


Epic of the Triumvirate Dragonborn Conquerors Bk. 01: Ascension

by Hadrian von Eveschatten (knarf3)



Series: Epic of the Triumvirate Dragonborn Conquerors [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Conquest, Explicit Sex, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Incest, Multi, Politics, Polygamy, Polygyny, Sibling Incest, Sufficiently Advanced Science, Underage Sex, collective, parental incest, sufficiently analysed magic, warfare
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-01-15 05:40:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 35,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18492508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knarf3/pseuds/Hadrian%20von%20Eveschatten
Summary: ｢Epic of the Triumvirate Dragonborn Conquerors Book 1｣The world of ASoIaF has ceased to exist tens of millennia ago, yet the Targaryen legacy, and that of the blood of dragons, continue to live on. Are the HP and modern worlds prepared for the second comings of the triumvirate dragonborn conquerors?Collective: Hadrian/Aegon × [Rosaline/Rhaenys & Belladonna/Visenya]; possible inclusions: Lily, Fleur, Daphne…(First two chapters modified off of The Dragon Has Three Heads, by TheLaughingMan1. The story cover artwork is used in a non-commercial context with permission from artist Amok, real name Roman Papsuev.)





	1. Author's Notes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Publish date: 2019-04-11
> 
> Edit (2019-05-12): The legalese, detailed story parametres, and text formatting legend have been removed from each chapter and consolidated into Part 2 of the story AN instead.
> 
> Edit (2019-05-14): Part 3, the index of acronyms, has been added.

 

**Author's Notes**

* * *

**Pt. 01: A Story Preamble from the Author**

Hello all,

This story is a continuation and rewrite of  _The Dragon Has Three Heads_ (DHTH), by TheLaughingMan1. Chapters 2 and 3 will largely be the same as DHTH, with the Chapter 4 and onwards being entirely my work. The tentative general directions that I want to take my story can be found below, some of which can also be found in my Chapter 2 review of DHTH.

First, the title of the story will be changed.  _The Dragon Has Three Heads_ is not as powerful and memorable as I would like it to be. My current working title is  _Epic of the Triumvirate Dragonborn Conquerors_ ; although it certainly is memorable, it is a bit clunky for my tastes. As such, alternative suggestions are welcome. And speaking of three heads, the three-headed dragon will probably be the combined form of the three individual dragons, although I am still not sure whether I should then give dragon animagus forms to the siblings as well.

Second, House Potter's (I will probably find a way for the siblings to eventually establish a new House, since I have never found the name Potter to be impressive. Or maybe I can change it to something Latin by weaving in an interpretation of the Potters originating from the Roman Republic. Or elevate the Evans name somehow, such as changing it to Eveschatten, as inspired by Eveningshade à la the fanfiction  _Passageways_ , by jerrway69.) influence and reliance on House Longbottom will be increased by a healthy amount and severely diminished respectively. For a house that has consistently produced impressive offspring and some have married well, I find it extremely hard to fathom how House Potter is on the near-bottom rung of the aristocratic ladder. For example, they could have gotten knighted and titled by the Crown for impressive deeds or/and invaluable contributions rendered.

Third, Hadrian's fanatical devotion to family will be tuned down several notches. Family is what one makes of it. And while defending family (which I presume to mean blood relations in DHTH) is important, I will not have the siblings hesitate to cut down, figuratively, politically, and physically, members who severely threaten the well-beings and agendas of the siblings and Lily (who henceforth shall be tentatively referred to as the Evans/Eveschatten).

Fourth, the Evans will be fleshed out and there will be appropriate character development. I envision the siblings to operate, both individually and cohesively, as competent leaders of different stripes. Hadrian/Aegon will still be bold and decisive of course, but also rational and methodical in his decision-making (which is why I am extremely disappointed by his retarded dumpling routine during the First Task, where he, and by misplaced devotion, his sisters, planned on dying an ignoble death by dragonfyre); Rosaline/Rhaenys will continue on as a devious seductress with a penchant for underhanded lethality; and Belladonna/Visenya will have her bloodthirsty nature channeled appropriately towards the political and marital battlefields, but with her haughty warrior princess aspect fully intact (I love her similarities, both physical and temperament wise, to a teenage Bellatrix, her cousin, by the way. I have always envisioned her to be a fierce and vivacious wavy-haired ravenette with amethyst eyes.).

Fifth, the relationship and mutual devotion between the siblings will be airtight, or at least almost all of the time. One thing that downgrades the relationship between Aegon and his sister-wives is the implied favourtism shown by Aegon towards Rhaenys over Visenya. Even though (according to the ASoIaF Wiki) Aegon married Rhaenys for love and Visenya for duty, Aegon was extremely foolish to let the latter relationship turn sour. I am not even sure how good of parents Aegon and Visenya were (Rhaenys did not count, since she died during the campaign in Dorne). Just look at the siblings' children: Aenys was a weak-willed ninny and Maegor was excessively tyrannical. It took Jaehaerys to bring stability and prosperity to the realm. Although I am glad to see that Hadrian, Rose, and Ivy already operate as a synchronised unit both in public and private, I will ensure that they remain that way, with the help of frequent threesomes in the bedroom ;). I may also introduce Lily into the incestuous collective, both because I am a shameless fan of the Hadrian x Lily pairing and an interpretation of Lily stopping the siblings' playing house activities as subconscious (or not) jealousy. And even though Aegon remained faithful to his two sister-wives, in this story, I intend for Hadrian to end up with a collective that numbers somewhere between three and seven, with Fleur as a likely candidate and a few other yet-to-be-introduced competent female characters as potential ones.

Sixth, the siblings, and later Lily, will publicly practice their moral behaviours. For example, the siblings will become increasingly brazen in their public affection for one another as time (and their secured powers in various arenas) goes on. It will likely start with territorial displays towards external parties (I interpret Ivy's animosity towards Fleur as potential sexual competition for her brother) and increased physical touches, and end with unmistakable status behaviours, such as the sisters sitting in their brother's lap. Also, they will be ruthless in their dealings with parties whom they cannot turn towards their causes. After all, might (partially) makes right (even in a society based on the rule of law, toothless enforcement and adjudication of law make the laws de facto useless).

Seventh, the to-be conquerors will know that they cannot rest easy and sit on their laurels. Incumbent powers will never willingly cede power to ascendant ones; as such, the siblings will be wise to parties that try to bind them through political machinations. Just look at what became of the Targaryen dynasty: the Citadel has schemed for centuries to kill off the former's dragons and decrease magic overall, while the Seven successfully thrust its tentacles into the Iron Throne, thereby trading its political support for the ruling house for continued influence, thus transforming the government closer to a theocracy. My conquerors will not abide by such unenlightened foolishness and allow backward policies to take root.

Eighth (and this is a continuation of the seventh point), the siblings will not follow the predominant and foolish succession policy of making the eldest (male) offspring of the main line the default heir or heiress. There are a few ways the siblings can ensure their polity remain strong, enlightened, and prosperous, all of which are based on meritocracy: the future heirs and heiresses will be selected based on identifiable and measurable criteria; set it as a democracy with a figurehead monarchy; or my personal favourite, become eternal god-emperors and leave the everyday bureaucratic machinery to competent officials and the civil service, à la the 4th installment of Noodlehammer's Naruto epic. Because the ruling nucleus will (eventually) become so powerful, their justified ego will ensure they have no need to rule their subjects as petty despots.

Well, that is the general direction I want to take the story in. Tell me what you think.

* * *

**Pt. 02: Legalese, Detailed Story Parametres, and Text Formatting Legend**

**Disclaimers** : I own neither the Harry Potter (HP), A Song of Ice and Fire (ASoIaF), nor Game of Thrones (GoT) franchises; said franchises are affiliated with or/and owned by J. K. Rowling, George R. R. Martin, and WarnerMedia. Any value derived from this work is intended for the sole purposes of this author's enjoyment and its readers' reading pleasures. The story cover artwork is used in a non-commercial context with permission from artist Amok, real name Roman Papsuev.

 **Slightly more in-depth summary** : The world of ASoIaF has ceased to exist tens of millennia ago, yet the Targaryen legacy, and that of the blood of dragons, which until a recent revelation, was only whispered as myth, continue to live on. The Eveschatten triplets, Hadrian, Rosaline, and Belladonna, are the reincarnations of Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya. With their Valyrian traits awakened and past memories slowly recovered, will the HP and modern worlds be prepared for the second comings of the triumvirate dragonborn conquerors? No matter the route, ignis et cruor will become the tools of their masters and the banes their enemies. (Chapters 2 and 3 modified off of _The Dragon Has Three Heads_ , by TheLaughingMan1.)

 **Themes** : conquest, warfare, fantasy, sufficiently analysed magic, sufficiently advanced science, politics, collective, polygamy, polygyny, incest, sibling incest, parental incest, explicit sex, underage sex

 **Formatting Conventions** [0a]:

🙞🙟  **Setting of a Regular Scene**  🙝🙜

🙥🙤  **Setting of a Scene with Oomph**  🙦🙧

"Normal speech"

" _Spell incantation_ "

' _Thought or_ _Spellcasting with (near) silent incantation_ '

( _Mental communication or Spellcasting without incantation_  (incantation for audience's benefit only))

⠟Speech by magical beings of great power or Other forms of magical speech⣴

߹Sound߹

« _Title of a Literary Work_ »

｢Text｣

⇝⇝⇝Dream or Flashback⇜⇜⇜

⠎⠑⠭Sex Scene⠎⠑⠭

[ix] Footnote

* * *

**Pt. 03: Index of Acronyms**

DADA — Defense against the Dark Arts

DBL — Dragon Breeding Licence

DIMC — Department of International Magical Cooperation

DMGS — Department of Magical Games and Sports

DMLE — Department of Magical Law Enforcement

DMys / DoM — Department of Mysteries

DRCMC — Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures

I.C.W. — International Confederation of Wizards

M.o.M. — Ministry of Magic

TWT — Triwizard Tournament

* * *

**Footnotes**

[0a] The formatting symbols, in Unicode, accompanying a Regular or Grand Scene can only be rendered properly, at least for me, on either a desktop or laptop computer (both running 64-bit Windows 10 Pro). On my smartphone (running Android 8.0 Oreo), the following deviations can be observed: (1) the aforementioned Unicode are replaced by U+1F666; (2) the middle Braille Unicode accompanying a Sex Scene is replaced by U+FFFD on HPFFA on Google Chrome.

 


	2. Ch. 02: Enter the Dragonborns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes
> 
> Well, here is my continuation of The Dragon Has Three Heads (DHTH), by TheLaughingMan1, now renamed as Epic of the Triumvirate Dragonborn Conquerors (ETDC), starting with a rewrite of Chapter 1 of DHTH. Before I go any further, I thank TheLaughingMan1 for his enjoyable work on the existing two chapters of DHTH.
> 
> Readers will find that this chapter remains mostly the same compared to that of DHTH; however, several key distinctions are introduced to take my story in different directions with respect to some aspects:
> 
> (1) The natural close bond between the triplets are teased out more, therefore no one should be surprised when they engage in sexual acts together in the future.
> 
> (2) There contain somewhat in-depth explanations of Houses Potter's and Eveschatten's (Evans) histories, which provide a logical reason for the Eveschattens' close alliance with House Longbottom. Well, that is going to change in this chapter. :)
> 
> (3) Hadrian's retarded dumpling savior impression during the First Task of the TWT in DHTH is unacceptably imbecilic, and the only reason the siblings survive is due to a deus ex machina plot device. In ETDC however, the siblings take an judged-to-be acceptable calculated risk, related to point (2), in order to use the opportunity to further their goals.
> 
> (4) Neville Longbottom receives a permanent demotion in relevance and screen time in this chapter as compared to DHTH, so rejoice those readers who only have interests in the conquest, machinations, and incest of the Eveschatten/Targaryen siblings.
> 
> (5) I write using formal grammar and no contractions for normal text; for everyday speech, except ones intended to be formal, however, contractions and some slang are readily used.
> 
> Now, onwards with the story.
> 
> Beta readers are also welcome to contribute to this story.
> 
> Publish date: 2019-04-13
> 
> Edit (2019-04-14): The designs of each of the triplet' newly awakened eyes have been altered. The reasons for said changes can be found in Footnote [1i].
> 
> Edits (2019-04-15 & 05-13): The timeline of the story within the HP Universe has been shifted forward by 20 years; therefore, the protagonists' Fourth Year now starts in 2014. Additionally, real life happenings in the domains of domestic politics, geopolitics, economy, technology, and culture may intersect and influence the plot of the story. Additionally, the predictions reflected in the story will hopefully also serve as a digital repository of information for posterity.

 

 

**Arc 01: Reconfiguration**

**Ch. 02: Enter the Dragonborns**

* * *

( _See the opening AN for legalese, detailed story parametres, and text formatting legend._ )

* * *

🙞🙟  **Prologue**  🙝🙜

Every child heard the stories at bedtime.

Of course, the stories varied wildly throughout the world, but at their core, they always remained the same. These were the tales of fierce dragons and gallant knights, humble heroes and cruel villains, epic battles, powerful magical spells, and the lessons of wisdom to be learned in their amazing adventures and harrowing quests.

They were the soft spoken songs sung by attentive parents at bedtime to lure imaginative children into fantastical dreams and occasionally horrific nightmares. These children would later reenact these dreams and stories with friends or siblings, running around with wooden swords that clacked loudly when striking another of its kind, all the while their playmates rode around them on sticks that were imagined to be horses or sometimes even dragons, unicorns or beasts as yet to be undiscovered.

All children played this game when the song of fantasy echoed in their minds, singing the stories of power and ambition, courage and avarice, love and revenge. Parents would smile encouragingly at the sight, almost nourished by the happiness and laughter of the little ones as they played their games of pretend—all due to the wonders of imagination. It was a normal thing, common and seen in all corners of the globe.

It was a great tragedy to the imagination that the children would grow up, slowly realising that their dreams of becoming powerful kings and courageous knights or wise queens and determined warrior maidens would remain only sweet dreams to be occasionally revisited with a whimsical smile. In the end, the song would be appreciated, but only rarely recalled, forever tinged with longing and bittersweetness for those dreams to be possible.

(Un)fortunately for Britannia, Hadrian Lilian Eveschatten [2a] never stopped dreaming of being a King.

* * *

⇝⇝⇝ **Dream Begins**

There was a mighty castle made of solid black stone, embedded on the slope of a great volcanic mountain on an island surrounded by an unknown sea. The castle was decorated by the detailed sculptures of gigantic dragons, each so realistic that it seemed as if they were dragons made of stone as opposed to stone carved in the likeness of dragons. Even to an untrained eye, the castle was a fortress that was forbidding and unyielding.

Suddenly, a massive red and black dragon rose out of the castle, so large that the already blackened island and deep blue sea were darkened even further. He had never seen anything like this dragon in his books, it was so large and powerful looking that it felt wrong to even compare the majestic beast to the likes of a common Welsh Green.

Unusually and most puzzling still, was the fact that the great winged reptile had three heads, each as large as a train carriage. Perhaps, even larger; he had no accurate frame of reference for such an unprecedented and great being. The horns were long and wicked, pointing directly to the sky whenever one of the heads looked downward on that which was below it. When the three heads neared one another, the row of horns resembled a crown to a surprising degree.

A synchronised deafening roar was bellowed from the three heads and the dragon swooped off across the sea to a new land, but an army awaited with swords and shields, one of such size that they seemed to be a sea in and of themselves. The dragon did not care; it welcomed the challenge, a challenge that brought unity and forged great strength.

With a mighty breath, the dragon unleashed its fire from three mouths and turned the land into a burning inferno, collecting three fallen crowns before flying off. More armies tried to battle it and more crowns were collected from the ashes of its enemies. The dragon roared, revelling in the glory of battle and the spoils of war.

Eventually, six crowns were collected and the dragon drifted off to slumber in a nest of fire and blood. Although it birthed other dragons, the three-headed one did not rest still and eventually was consumed by its own heirs. The dragons dwindled one by one until only one dragon remained, a young and strong dragon who collected one more crown that made the six of the nest into seven.

It clutched a giant dark grey wolf in its talons, nuzzling it affectionately. Soon, however, came a mighty and muscular stag to challenge it. They did battle, but at the fatal moment, the dragon made a mistake and its chest was rammed inward by the stag, causing it to perish. Nearby, three unhatched dragon eggs glowed.

Now, Hadrian could see the three-headed dragon's remains become ash. The ash drifted up and soared across the sky, eventually coming to a new land. There, the dragon ash became fertile soil for a beautiful white flower and soon a new stag arrived; this one more agile, not as aggressive. It protected the flower, but was somehow struck down and the flower multiplied, growing over the stag's body until a new dragon burst from the organic heap.

Like before, this one was red and black with three heads. And although it seemed to be the very same dragon from the island, there were differences. For one, its shiny protective scales were midnight black, like obsidian, while the remaining softer body surface was a colour of dried crimson blood. More importantly though, this dragon appeared to be even stronger, growing steadily. Finally, all three heads turned to Hadrian and roared loudly to signify its challenge to all that could hear it. There came the hissing cry of snakes, the roars of bears, the buzzing of a white honey bee [2b], and even the stars twinkled in answer to its battlecry of dominance.

The three-headed red and black dragon turned to Hadrian, the center one facing him but the other two came at him from the sides. The center head leaned forward, a deep and regal voice declaring a single word that yet had any meaning to the young man the word was intoned to, ⠟Aegon.⣴

 **Dream Ends** ⇜⇜⇜

* * *

🙞🙟 **November 23, 2014, Gryffindor Common Room, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ("Hogwarts" or HSWW), Scottish Highlands, United Kingdom (U.K.) / Magical Britain (Mgc. Britain)**  🙝🙜

On an otherwise normal evening of November 2014, Hadrian Eveschatten jerked awake with a gasp, standing up off of the most comfortable couch in the Gryffindor Common Room in a quick jerking motion. He stood there like a statue, his heart racing like a panicked animal, unaware of anyone around him or even of where he was currently at.

His skin felt hot, the plain black school robes were stifling, but he could not move, frightened and still half lost in the strange dream. It had been so clear to him, more realistic and detailed compared to the previous few and than the circular room that surrounded him now. He could feel the dragon even now in his breast, its uncompromising desire for dominance and the fire of its breath. His hands trembled at the memory.

What could possibly hope to stand against a creature—no, a majestic and terrible magical being—such as that?

Hands touched his shoulder and Hadrian bolted forward like a skittish colt, turning around in a defensive crouch to confront those who had touched him. As soon as he saw soft emerald eyes so much like his own staring at him with concern, he relaxed and the memory came rushing back to him. He was Hadrian Eveschatten and he was in the Gryffindor Common Room, having fallen asleep on the couch with his sisters to the merry crackling of the hearth's fire.

Rosaline Mabel Eveschatten [2a], his younger triplet sister by a few minutes, watched him with worry. Belladonna Alexandria Eveschatten [2a], his older triplet sister, also by a few minutes, was still asleep and had fallen over without him there to prop her up. Instead, Bella snuggled her face into Rose's lap while the auburn-haired sister stroked Bella's long wild raven hair lovingly. Unlike Bella, who wore her hair very long, Rose's auburn hair was kept at shoulder length with the bangs cut a bit shorter. It gave her soft, pretty face a coquettish look that was only enhanced by large emerald eyes.

"Arie, are you alright?" Rose questioned softly using the Eveschatten women's pet name for him, not wanting to wake Bella. Then again, no one wanted to wake Bella in such a state. She was short tempered at the best of times and just after sleep was far from the best of times.

"I'm fine. It was just a…" Hadrian paused, unsure whether he should call the strange vision a nightmare or a dream. It felt so much more different than a mere dream and he knew the vision would not fade like normal dreams would. "…just a dream, Rose."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Rose asked kindly, ever willing to help her Beloved Brother [2c]. She really should have been a Hufflepuff, instead of a Ravenclaw. She probably would have been a Badger if it was not for her dislike of hard work.

"Not at the moment. Thanks anyway, Rose." Hadrian gave her a half-smile, honestly not sure what to make of it. Dragonfire still circled in his mind like a whirlpool of destruction, of light and death.

Carefully, so as to not jostle the sleeping dragon that was Belladonna Eveschatten, the siblings maneuvered her up so that Hadrian could slide between them once more. As soon as he was in place, Bella instinctively cuddled into his side and wrapped her arms around him. Rose did similarly, but stretched her legs out more and Hadrian sat with her hugged up against his left side.

It had been a source of great amusement to their mother and puzzlement to the school that each of the triplets had been sorted into different Houses. Sweet Rosaline, clever as could be, was sorted into Ravenclaw—the House of intelligence and wisdom. She loved her books, loved learning from the mistakes of the past to gain her own wisdom and as she devoured book after book she had also picked up obscure spells—esoteric secrets hidden in otherwise dry texts.

She was the spitting image of her mother, but petite, not standing higher than five foot and two inches. To all appearances, she was dainty and delicate like a flower. Given her polite nature and kindness, very few ever expected the mind behind that beautiful face to be ever calculating and analytic. It is a surprise then for many people, both friendly and hostile, to discover that she was the coldest thinker of the siblings and could divorce emotion from thought easily. Only her siblings truly knew her because it was only with family that they dropped all pretenses.

The sleeping Bella was her opposite in every way, in personality and appearance. Bella had pale skin as well, yet hers was more like alabaster, giving her a statuesque look as if carved from marble. Cold faced, not like Rose's warm look, and her features were strong where Rose's were soft. Bella had inherited more of the Black looks from their paternal grandmother, Dorea Potter née Black, and according to Sirius she was nearly a dead ringer for a teenaged Bellatrix Black. It was a rude surprise for the family when they learned that the namesake cousin they used to adore was suspected of being in leagues of Voldemort, although it was never proven, for she vanished shortly before that particular Hallow's Eve. For the siblings however, they had never been too convinced of Bellatrix's supposed treachery.

Bella was gorgeous, tall and lithe like a runway model. Her emerald eyes, a distinctive trait shared with her siblings and mother, made her seem like a female version of Hadrian, both of whom had similar bone structure inherited from Dorea whereas Rose gained most of her looks from their mother. Bella had definitely been blessed with their mother's taller and more curvaceous form.

Bella was rather infamous at Hogwarts for her temper, more so than either of her siblings. They all had a temper, but she lost hers the most often and was undoubtedly the more temperamental of the triplets. Where Rose was soft and sweet, Bella was hard and unbending, never compromising. Once she was set on something, only Hadrian could dissuade her and even that was not always certain.

Truly, she had earned the right to be in Slytherin and had proven that to her housemates more than once. Sirius often laughed that Bella was a warrior, through and through. He had been particularly proud of that trait, often teaching her more about dueling than any of the others and cultivating her strength. Hadrian had a feeling that Sirius had known which House Bella would be in and had prepared her for it as much as possible.

While not bothering with the schoolyard jostling of sheltered superiority in the House, Bella had made the point that she was not to be trifled with by sending a good bit of Slytherin to the Hospital Wing over the past three years. She had faced the threat of expulsion several times for her cruel methods of humiliating those who either challenged her or dared to try and lay their filthy hands on her, but somehow always managed to worm her way out of them, partially due to their mother's influence as the once apprentice and now colleague of Filius Flitwick in her capacity as an adjunct Charms Professor.

Of course, the fact that both Hadrian and Rose had pledged to leave Hogwarts if their sister was expelled also had something to do with it. It was the fear of many on the staff that Hadrian would use his childhood friendship with Neville Longbottom to convince the Boy-Who-Lived to leave with the Eveschatten siblings and Neville had said nothing that would make them think otherwise.

Neville was one of the few males that Bella did not outright despise, leading most of the sheep to think that there might be a marriage contract between the two in the works, simply because of her tolerance of his presence. Rose, of course, welcomed Neville readily, but even Neville suspected it was purely to keep the peace between Hadrian and him; for as cruel as Bella could be, Rose could be just as cold and vicious.

The only male the two sisters truly trusted however was their Beloved Brother. It all went back to their childhood, an incident that none of the Eveschatten children ever brought up, but Neville had heard references to it and knew something bad had happened, that was all he needed to know to respect the siblings and know his place among them as a friend. The three Eveschattens had such a strong bond, one that not even being sorted into different Houses could hope to strain.

Hadrian was the subtle yet undisputed leader among them, a first among equals so to speak, and both of his sisters followed his lead in everything for good or ill. Not that they would not challenge his reasonings of course. Bella was the fierce one; Rose was the clever one; and Hadrian was powerful. All three siblings learned from each other, but chose to project somewhat one-dimensional facades as to keep outsiders, and even some associates, off-balance. Neville, while good friends with Hadrian, had his own group in the form of Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. The siblings never tolerated the Weasley's lack of drive, narrow worldview, easily prone to jealousy nature, and uncouth manner to begin with. As for Hermione, she might have been a friend of Hadrian's too, but Bella's cruel nature and Rose's coldness to her gave her a feeling of them not wanting her to be around their brother and had quickly sent her scampering back to her own group.

It was not normal for the members of other Houses to stay in the Gryffindor Common Room and a few Lions had protested the presence of Bella due to her being a Slytherin. The resulting tranquil, yet furious, lecture Hadrian had delivered to a packed house had been legendary, shaming and threatening his housemates in equal measure, thus quelling any future dissenters. Like all lions, the Gryffindors responded only to aggression and dominant displays of power—two traits that Hadrian had a great deal of if someone stupidly provoked him. Otherwise, he was content to allow Neville to rule their year mates and be a leader in the House.

"Tomorrow's the day of the First Task." Rose whispered, burrowing her face into his neck and breathing in deeply his comforting scent. After spending their childhood sleeping in the same bed at Skye Cottage off of the Isle of Skye, the siblings simply could not stand to sleep apart from one another. "Do you think Neville's up for it?"

"I think that Neville is as prepared as he can be." Hadrian murmured back comfortingly, rubbing her shoulder. "Hermione has done well in coaching him. So don't worry, he'll be fine." He added confidently.

"In that case, let's get some more sleep, Brother Mine." Rose reflected with a smile.

Nodding with a sleepy smile of his own, Hadrian wrapped an arm around Rose and prepared to do just that.

"If you two don't shut up, I'll show the world what I can do!" Bella growled out grumpily, snuggling into Hadrian's side something fierce with a bit of a snarl on her face, which only came off as a petulant puppy. Hadrian and Rose traded identical looks of amusement, but obediently settled back into the couch and hopefully into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

🙥🙤 **November 24, 2014, Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch**  🙦🙧

Hadrian hugged his mother as they met in the Top Box that was one of four built to house the families and friends of the four Champions. Each one was built to seat twenty, but the Longbottom Box did not require that many, only seven people would sit there: Lady Augusta, the four Eveschattens, and Neville's two amigos.

Despite the siblings' father's sacrifice when facing off against Voldemort, the siblings simply felt more emotional connection with their mother, and thus chose to publicly use Eveschatten as their surnames. As for their Mother, Lillian Isabel Eveschatten [2a], although being the matriarch of House Potter, was a strong and independent woman, and thus always used her maiden name publicly, both because it was the name she used in her professional life and a falling-out she had with her now deceased husband shortly before his death.

"It's good to see you, Mum." Hadrian grinned, stepping back so she could inspect him as was her custom if they had not seen one another in a long time. Despite his independence and maturity, he was unabashedly a mother's boy. She had not have much time to spend with him and his sisters in the past year, mainly due to her occasional work for the Ministry that were officially classified as consultations. Lily was as vivacious and charming as ever, her full bosom and inherently timeless beauty had only been increased by the maturity of motherhood.

"Look at you, you've grown two inches since I've last seen you." Lily said fondly, proudly looking over her darling son's handsome face and the strong build he had painfully cultivated. He was not as naturally robust as Neville, having more of a lean runner's build, but he had worked hard to make up for it, painstakingly adding bulk to his sleek frame. "And so strong, they must be feeding you well at Hogwarts." She cooed.

"Thank you, Mum." Hadrian replied bashfully, feeling his ears burning. He turned to the ancient Lady Augusta while his mother rushed over to fawn over his sisters, who were wearing dresses specifically designed for public events. "Lady Augusta, it's a pleasure to see you again."

"Young Hadrian." Augusta greeted imperiously, a small fond smile tugging at the corner of her withered lips. She had watched him grow from a thin boy into a fine young lad and it pleased her to know that Neville had at least one good ally of proper birth for the future. "How fair you?"

"I am fairing well, my lady." Hadrian answered with a smile of his own, bending his head to peck her knuckles as was the custom. "I'm looking forward to watching Neville perform well in the Tournament. Today will be the day that he puts all doubters to rest."

"Or makes a bloody fool of himself." Augusta replied skeptically, a frown on her brow that made her entire face look even more wrinkled than usual. "Do you really believe my Neville is up to the task? He's not Frank, you know."

"I've no doubt that Neville will be victorious." Hadrian stated with an awkward smile, hiding his bemusement over her persistent doubt of her grandson. Although he was somewhat of a social Darwinist, he felt obliged to shape his friend up, if for no other reason than for the unacceptable nature of his family associating with an otherwise lackluster scion [2d].

"Hmph." Was all that Augusta said, sitting back down and staring at the rocky arena below. He felt relieved that she was done speaking to him. Lady Augusta was an acquired taste, to put it mildly.

The Potters were a relatively modest ancient noble family, a Welsh one at that. Numerous family had found circumstantial evidence of their ancestors originating from the early Roman Empire. Throughout House Potter's history, it had consistently ignored the Pureblood tradition and dogma of only marrying and siring offspring with other traditional Purebloods, the result of which had certainly paid dividends. House Potter only cared about bringing the best and brightest into its family, regardless of any status, which was partially why Lillian Isabel Eveschatten, one of the brightest and most powerful of her generation, was chosen to marry into Potter family and consented to James Potter's hand in marriage. Lillian Eveschatten was originally known as Lillian Evans; however, upon researching into her genealogy once entering into the Wizarding World, she was able to eventually trace her ancestry to a long line of magicals in the service of the Holy Roman Empire, who settled in an area now within Germany. Beginning in the sunset period of the empire, Lillian's ancestors decided to emigrate to Britain. One of the ancestors was a squib, a trait passed down until Lillian managed to awaken the family's full magical potential once more.

House Potter's sons and daughters had consistently been strong wizards and witches, with the number of squibs produced throughout the past several centuries countable with the digits on both hands, so very unlike the other so-called great Pureblood Houses, for whom the numbers of squibs born and the potencies of their scions' magick had noticeably increased and decreased respectively. The Potters also lived up to their unconventional heritage by closely associating with the Mundane World, especially the British Government and various fields of industry. In fact, numerous Potter ancestors were knighted by their respective monarchs for invaluable services and contributions rendered to the Crown, and several started and passed on successful business in both the Magical and Mundane Worlds. Therefore, despite House Potter not traditionally dabbling in the politics of Mgc. Britain, its esoteric yet significant history afforded its members not so insignificant influence within Mgc. British society.

Yet, James Potter's manchildishness and mismanagement of many Potter assets and connections brought House Potter's fortunes into a severe downturn, with only Lily's shrewd thinking managing to stem the worst of the flows. What Lily ever saw in James remained a mystery to this day. With House Potter at a weakened position, enough influential Pureblood families who were jealous of its non-traditional successes or/and disdainful of its constant flaunting of tradition almost brought it to its knees politically. Had it not been for House Longbottom's defense of House Potter, the Eveschattens would have left Magical Britain behind long ago. Although grateful for House Longbottom's intervention, none of the Eveschattens were naïve enough to believe that the Dowager Longbottom, then and still was the controlling power of her adopted House, did it solely out of the goodness of her heart. Before James Potter's debacle, Houses Potter and Longbottom were loose allies of comparable standing. Now, her disguised favour forced the Eveschattens into a de facto subservient position, a vassal status bought at a bargain price. The Potters, now Eveschattens, because James had so disastrously tarnished his family name, were proud people who were deferential only to the Crown out of mutual benefits, had no interest in prolonging this indignity. As such, the Eveschatten family, with Hadrian being the most ambitious, were working to pay off its debt to House Longbottom, as their honour demanded, as quickly as possible, and from there rebuilding its political power so that it would never have another master [2e].

Hadrian glanced over to check on his sisters and quickly hid a chuckle. Lily and Rose were complimenting one another on their near identical dresses of red and black respectively, cooing over fashion and chatting along at a mile a minute, but Bella was looking pleadingly at Hadrian, hoping he would save her from what she saw as inane chatter. Bella was wearing a fine green dress that was shoulderless and a bit more slinky than her sister's, looking distinctly uncomfortable in it, but he thought she looked amazing. Not that she ever was not of course.

He himself was wearing finely tailored black robes that looked more like a mundane suit and trimmed in red. The robes had cost him a sizeable bit of his personal savings, but it was a good investment for future public outings.

"Mum, Rose, Bella and I are going down to check on Neville. We'll be back in a moment." Hadrian informed, taking Bella's hand in his and replying to her grateful look with a quirk of his lips.

"Alright, darlings. Tell Neville that we wish him the best of luck." Lily smiled at the two warmly, turning back to her discussion with Rose over lengths and colors and other things that Bella was trying her best to escape from. "Rose and I will hold down the fort here, but be quick about it."

Hadrian gave a nod, then escorted his sister down the stairs properly. As soon as they were out of sight, both breathed a sigh of relief and laughed at each other as they made their way down to the Champions' tent. On the way, they noticed Lucius and Draco Malfoy striding towards the higher stands, but had quickly hurried on, not wanting to cause an incident as he knew they would try to provoke them into one.

He opened the tent, stepping aside to let Bella enter first then following her. It was rather large, as expected, and surprisingly luxurious for Ministry standards; then again, he reminded himself, this was the Ministry's way of showing off to other countries, so their usually sparse accommodations were altered for that purpose. It still felt like a cheap hotel room that had been given a fresh coat of paint.

The four Champions were all huddled together in a corner, keeping close but not a single one were talking. Each looked nervous, Fleur Delacour and Neville were visibly trembling while Krum and Diggory were like stone, but with a green tint to their faces.

As much as the Eveschattens and the Longbottoms were allies by necessity and preference, Hadrian and Bella had another reason to come by the tent: scout potential contacts and allies for their family's future plans.

"Haven't you won this thing yet, Neville?" Hadrian asked loudly and jovially, putting on as much cheer and confidence for his friend in his demeanor as he could. He walked over, giving Neville a brief hug and several claps on the back. "Come now, chin up and back straight! Why the long face? You're the pride of Gryffindor!"

"Not so loud, Hadrian!" Neville hissed at him, his round face turning red from embarrassment at Hadrian's comments. Krum and Delacour were giving them both the stink eye, but Diggory was smiling approvingly at the two of them, probably having guessed Hadrian's aim.

"Excusez-moi-" Fleur began with a sniff, her astonishing beauty and silvery blonde hair caught Hadrian's appreciative eye. As fine and ethereal as her face was, it was her hair that he admired the most—a long and silky curtain of gold tinted silver, a colour that he was sure he saw a few glimpses of during his dreams, but not managing to make a connection.

"You're excused." Bella snipped, glaring at the blonde witch with baleful emerald eyes. Fleur's sky blue eyes flared in indignation and she gave Bella an undisguised look of disdain that had Bella fingering her hawthorn wand.

"You were saying, madam?" Hadrian interjected smoothly, smiling faintly at Bella with an amused look on his face. She always did make things so very lively. Between Bella's impulsiveness and Rose's schemes, he was certainly never bored.

"This is the Champions' tent. It is for Champions only, not riffraff." Fleur sneered pointedly at Bella, who returned it with one of her own. "You are disturbing our focus, so I must insist that you leave immediately."

"You'll have to forgive us, Champion Delacour." Hadrian said politely, hiding the irritation that wanted to take over his face and keeping it stoic. In truth, he was much like Bella in personality, only he had learned how to hide it better and control the volatile beast that was his anger. "Neville is a dear friend of my family. We grew up together, so I wanted to wish him well before the task."

"Let them be, Ms. Delacour." Diggory spoke up, a friendly look on his face. He was eager to distract himself from the fact that he might be going to a fiery death soon and Hadrian's visit, boisterous and over-the-top though it might be, was doing just that.

Fleur looked over to Krum, but he stared back at her with an uncaring face, honestly not giving a shit one way or another. She would find no help for her indignity there, although why she felt indignant was hard to say. Instead, she sat back down with an expression somewhere scowl and a pout, pointedly ignoring Bella's smirk.

Because Neville was not particularly talented at any branches of magic, except for Defense against the Dark Arts (DADA) and Herbology, Hadrian decided to give his ally some last minute pep talk. "Neville, you  **can**  do this." Hadrian assured him, clasping his shoulder confidently. "You will accomplish this task, you will make your family proud, and you will do it all splendidly. I have no doubt about this, so have no doubt about it yourself."

"You don't understand, the First Task is dragons!" Neville exclaimed, looking as if he was going to be violently ill. "I'm fourteen years old, I can't fight a dragon. I don't want to die, Hadrian!"

Hadrian can only raise an eyebrow at that absurd statement. Dragons! The Ministry thought it was a good idea to force teenagers to fight bloody dragons? It took a team of fully trained dragon handlers to even bring a dragon down, at least four or six strong witches and wizards! What the hell could Neville do to win against a XXXXX (5X)-ranked magical creature?!

The massive three-headed force of nature of his dream crept into his mind, sending a cold shiver running down his spine. A dozen plans came to his mind, but were just as quickly discarded as impractical, if not impossible. Try as he might, Hadrian could not conceive of a way for his ally to face a dragon and survive, let alone claim victory.

' _What mad fool thought that this was a good test for students?!_ '

"Play to your strengths, Nev." With that particular piece of inane wisdom said, Hadrian clasped a firm hand onto Neville's shoulder and turned around to find his sister.

The sight that he came upon made Hadrian roll his eyes. Fleur Delacour and Bella Eveschatten stood facing one another, the tip of their wands pointed at each other's throats and glowering at one another. Neither Diggory or Krum looked as if they had the slightest interest in stopping a potential and dangerous catfight between the girls.

"Bella, it's time we rejoined our family." Hadrian stated flatly, stepping in between them to the disappointment of Diggory and Krum. "We've no time for games. You can play with your new friend later."

"Another time, Delacour." Bella hissed threateningly, turning to leave the Champion's tent with her brother. She sheathed her wand into the wand holster at her waist smoothly like it was a sword as she walked away, but Fleur could not help one last parting shot.

"Un autre fois, frere amant!" Fleur stated with a taunting smirk, giving a little wave. Hadrian had no idea what that meant, having never taken up the language for one reason or another, but Bella was proficient in speaking French and immediately turned around with murderous intent and slightly flushed cheeks.

Hadrian was forced to grab Bella and drag her away, ignoring her kicking and her growled words of vengeful promises while the French witch's mocking laughter echoed behind them. Whatever Fleur said must have hit a little too close to home for her because Hadrian had not seen her that mad in years, not even when she broke both of Marcus Flint's legs and all of his fingers in Second Year for calling their mother a 'Mudblood slut'.

It took 15 minutes for Bella to calm down enough for Hadrian to let her back into public, even then she was still growling about 'know it all French whores' all the way up to the Longbottom Box and quieted only when they entered it. She refused to tell him what Fleur had said, so he let the matter drop.

They took their seats, Bella to his right and Rose to his left with their mother sitting on Rose's other side and Lady Augusta on Bella's other side. Both sisters gripped each of his hands when they noticed a slight frown on his otherwise impeccable features.

"Welcome, one and all, to the one hundred and twenty sixth (126th) Triwizard Tournament!" Bagman's voice boomed, nearly being drowned out by the cheers and yells of the crowd as they expressed their excitement.

"It should be renamed the Tetrawizard Tournament instead." Bella muttered snidely. Everyone around her agreed with her on that point.

"For the first time in the tournament's history, we have four champions instead of three. The First Task for our champions will be to retrieve a golden egg from the nest of four different breeds of… DRAGONS!"

As the crowd ooh'd and awe'd, in the Longbottom Box the reactions were quite different.

"What?!" Lady Augusta shouted, rising to her feet with expressions of outrage mixed with sheer terror. Lily acted similarly, as she still could not afford to behave callously. Rose looking dazed by the news and faintly disbelieving. Bella's face was tight with nerves.

"I'll be having words with the Minister once this… this… travesty has ended!" Augusta shrieked, looking much like the vulture on the hat she wore. Hadrian had the most amusing thought of Lady Augusta picking at the Minister's bones and smirked briefly, but the weight of the task soon wiped away even that small bit of humor.

"You knew." Rose whispered to him. "Somehow, you knew that it would be dragons."

"Neville told me a few minutes ago." He whispered back, only glancing at her briefly before his eyes began to search out the dragons. The cages were hidden by a powerful disillusionment charm, but the charm was ended now, revealing the mighty beasts to the crowd with a dramatic flair.

Their breeds were announced in turn by Bagman, but Hadrian was not listening, his attention was focused on one of the four. It was a ferocious beast with scales that shined like polished obsidian and a crown of horns that looked like pure death to his eyes. The dragon flailed and roared, sending great gouts of red hot flame thirty meters away. A wickedly spiked tail lashed out against the bars of the cage, rattling them so harshly that it seemed impossible for the cage to hold.

Hadrian ignored the gasps and screams of the crowd. They were all fools, come to participate as the bloodthirsty mob of a modern Colosseum with four children as their gladiators. His eyes were locked onto the magnificent creature being forcibly caged.

It struck him as impossibly tragic for such a majestic being to be denied its freedom. Dragons belonged in the sky, soaring over the land that they had claimed as their own and laying waste to those who were foolish enough to challenge their power.

The dragon seemed to sense Hadrian's attention because it made contact with his stare, great slitted yellow eyes glaring hatefully into empathetic emerald orbs. He could feel an empathetic connection to the creature, he could sense its fear and rage. The dragon was terrified, not only for itself however.

Emerald eyes lowered to the small clutch of eggs nearby and a snarl came to his lips that he could not hide. They were taking children from their mother, locking the mother up and placing her in the midst of a colony of strange creatures while taunting her with her own young. It enraged her. It enraged him. ' _How dare they steal children for the purpose of some stupid game! Dragon eggs are to be valued, protected, and guarded!_ '

Hadrian shook his head, confusion gripping his heart. Where did those thoughts come from? They had just leaped forward, taking control of his train of thought. It was as if he had faded for a moment, washed downstream, but leaving something else behind, some different part of him in control that was still him at the same time. Strange, very strange and scary, yet also exciting. Liberating. Whatever part had come to the fore was powerful.

Rose and Bella felt his hands exerting more pressure on their own, and saw his intensified scrutiny of something. They turned their heads to look at the object of his gaze, but could not figure why he was so focused on the Hungarian Horntail. So they turned back to ask their brother, and he told them of his concerns.

To say the sisters were not happy with the Ministry was putting it mildly.

"Are all of the involved Ministry personnel brain-damaged?!" Bella hissed. Rose could only shake her head at the Ministry sinking even lower than her ceiling of low expectations for them.

One by one, the Champions were brought in to do battle with their respective dragons and steal the golden egg, but Hadrian did not care about them, his mind was still on the chained dragon and the dread of his friend's trial by fire. The only reason he even barely paid attention to Fleur's attempt was her hair and the niggling sensation in the back of his mind as if a memory was scratching at the inside of his skull.

He grew enraged once more on the roller coaster of emotions that the day was proving to be when Krum cast a Conjunctivitis Curse on the Chinese Fireball's eyes, blinding the beast and indirectly causing her to trample her own eggs. He did experience some schadenfreude though, when the dragon in her pain and rage, suddenly swiped one of her clawed hands across his face when he thought the dragon would not pose further problems, leading to his right and wand forearm being messily cleft off when he desperately tried to shield his face over the dragon's unexpected retaliation. Krum did gain a measure of respect in Hadrian's eyes though, when he proved tough and dignified enough to not scream out in pain as the judges quickly assigned their scores so that he could be moved to the tent for medical attention. Still, his empathy was limited and the beast in his heart stirred, hissing in contempt at Krum's senseless barbaric display.

When it came to Neville's display, the teen at least had the good sense to increase his aerial maneuverability by flying around the Hungarian Horntail after summoning his broom when hiding behind a crevice. After several failed attempts at swiping the golden egg from the angry mother dragon's nest, the female dragon, as any other protective mother would do when feeling frustrated, fearful, and angry over the fate of her offspring, was able to reflexively tap into her usually unused muscle potential through the judicious channeling of universal righteous feminine fury. Her next action would shock the audience into a thankful silence.

߹SNAP!߹

Sound resumed when the dragon roared triumphantly, rising up and snapping at Neville in a lightning quick blow that the boy barely dodged in his terror. Now, Neville really began to fly. He swerved, he ducked, he swirled past the limbs, teeth, and breath of the dragon as if he was Viktor Krum himself.

Unfortunately, he was not Viktor Krum and that truth became apparent when one of the tip spikes of the dragon's tail clipped Neville across his right upper leg when he swooped in low in another attempt for the golden egg. The centrifugal force generated by the swing of the tail easily sheared off a good chunk of Neville's upper right leg, as well as snapping the femur like a toothpick. The pain must had been horrendous, Hadrian could see his ally scream, but could not hear him over the panic of the crowd as they were torn between stampeding away and watching the battle in horrified fascination.

Neville landed on the rocky ground roughly, one of his arms was angled the wrong direction indicating a broken arm, but he was only approximately three metres (3 m) from the nest. That did not help him whatsoever however, for he was now a literal sitting duck, if the duck was a crippled and rapidly bleeding out bear.

Hadrian could not let Neville die here. Otherwise, who knew how that old vulture would react, lashing out at anyone and everyone, including his family. He quickly looked over to his sisters, and as only closely connected siblings could effortlessly do, they too seemed to have the same thought. Seeing the dragon handlers still frozen in shock, the triplets quickly turned around to their mother, mentally broadcasting their intent to her.

Lily, having come to the same necessity of action moments prior, was definitely not happy about her children's intended action. In fact, she very much wanted to chain them to their chairs. Unfortunately, she knew that this scenario would provide them a probable shot at saving the Longbottom heir, thereby finally fulfilling the blasted debt owed to that old croon. Knowing how capable each of her children was, she grimaced, but nonetheless judged the probability of them surviving this calculated risk high enough to make the endeavour worthwhile.

Seeing their mother's reluctant nod of acceptance, the triplets vaulted from the top box and onto the rocky terrain of the area some 6 m below. Several silent feather-light and cushioning charms cast in quick succession were enough to allow them to land unharmed.

Amidst the headless chickens and the frantic shouting of viewers, which only served to annoy the Hungarian Horntail even more, the triplets absently heard their mother cast a powerful summoning charm to land the whimpering boy away from the carnage. Deciding on a gamble as despite their powers for the age group, they could not hope to overpower a fully grown, truly enraged, and extremely magically resistant dragon, the triplets knew they had no choice but to use their inherited language of reptiles from their mother to hopefully get the justifiably enraged mother dragon to calm down, now that the would-be thief of one of her brood was no longer within chomping distance.

Parseltongue, although a celebrated ability in many societies due to its usage in some powerful healing magic, was unfortunately and unfairly stigmatised as "evil" sorcery by the unwashed masses in Mgc. Britain, which made the ability a double-edged sword. However, what better way to make a public statement than with some notoriety, infamy, and flair eh? The binary fools of the Light and Dark Factions would most likely froth at their mouths for entirely different reasons, but House Potter was never one to be pigeonholed into one inflexible and dogmatic ideology, until James Potter that was. Yet another embarrassment to be laid at that man's feet.

§Greeting, great one.§ Hadrian started off. It never hurt anyone to be polite and show respect when it was due after all.

The great dragon, who was about to lay waste to the three humans before her after that insolent whelp who dared to take one of its young escaped her wrath, suddenly stopped her intended action to make mincemeat out of three, stared at the one who inexplicably opened his mouth to speak her tongue. §Greetings, human.§ Never let it be said that dragons were mindless beasts, for they too observed decorum.

Feeling that she and her siblings would not quickly die ignoble deaths, Rose quickly picked up where her brother left off, while her sister scanned around to make sure no idiots came by to make a further mess of the situation. §My siblings and I thank you for treating with us great one. We have no intention of causing further misunderstanding and conflict. If we may be so bold, we ask you to ignore the tournament organisers' oversight.§

Rather than ignore it though, the dragon hissed, §Ignore?! IGNORE?! That insolent whelp dared to kidnap my young! Tell me, why shouldn't I fly up this pit and finish what I started!§

Bella, showing that she had more modes of operation than cursing and threatening, quickly interjected. §Great one, that boy was entirely ignorant of the true nature of your hatchlings. He thought they were mere decoys.§ Bella had no way of knowing the factualness of that statement, but hoped it would appease the dragon enough to let them come out of this unfortunate situation unharmed and more powerful politically.

At this point, the shock among the crowd began to wear off, and the shouts instead turned to unsure murmurs and whispers, for they were seeing, firsthand, the Eveschatten triplets engaging a dragon of all things in speech! As with most situations, the reactions were mixed and split among ideological lines: the Light fearful and outraged over the children of one of the most notable heroes of the previous war being able to use such an evil ability; the Dark impotently seething over three do-gooders somehow stealing one of their master's most prized magical abilities; and the Neutral shrewdly observing the scene to figure out how they could use this development to their advantages [2f]. The media present of course, descended like a pack of vultures to record down this event in glorious detail, self-preservation instincts be damned. And Rita Skeeter, that delightful woman, was panting with excitement, thinking of ways to spin her upcoming bombshell of a story into the most salacious one possible.

Ignoring the rabble, the siblings eventually managed to persuade the Hungarian Horntail to disengage from her planned bout of mayhem and destruction. During this period, the dragon began detecting something different about the three siblings. Something extraordinary. Something ancient. Something only passed down as mere whispers between each generation of dragons and the subsequent one. Something long thought by all magical beings to have died out. Excited and duty-bound to help bring about the potential reemergence of this great magick, the dragon began to communicate her plan to the triplets with great potentials [2g].

Unfortunately, just as the siblings were about to be in the clear, the dragon handlers, led by Charlie Weasley, decided now would be a great time to restrain the mighty being. Incensed by the foolish humans interfering with her duty to magic itself, the dragon let out a terrible conical stream of dragonfire, immolating everything in its path. The dragon knew that the siblings' buried heritage would protect them from her fire, just like she knew they, or at least the sole male as of now, would not let her yet to be born hatchlings come to harm. Coming to her decision, the dragon flapped her mighty wings and flew into the air, letting out a terrible roar as it disappeared from view [2h].

Of course, the crowd were not privy to the dragon's designs, so they did what any good NPC worth its programmed script would do: scream like a certain doughy ginger banshee. Most of the dragon handlers instantly perished, their bodies unable to resist the extremely potent dragonfire for even a few seconds; a few managed to leap out of the way, sustaining various levels of burn injuries. The person who would have the most justification for doing so meanwhile, could only stare and gape in horror at the seeming horrendous deaths of her precious children, unable to comprehend the scene before her.

Instead of roasted corpses burned black by the hottest fires or even pillars of ash however, Lily saw the most amazing sight: her children were still in the same poses as when the flames had consumed them!

Their fine robes were burned to cinders, the hair of their bodies had been cooked off of them, but their soot covered flesh was immaculate. Indeed, beneath the black of the ash, their skin looked new as if reborn or purified by the fire. All around, people stared in slack jawed awe and confusion over the triplets' unharmed state.

"Impossible." Lily heard someone whisper, but could not tell whom they were. There was a hush to the crowd, as if witnessing some holy moment or miracle from the days of Merlin and Morgana, but not even the many legends of their people had anything similar to an event of this calibre. The closest was when Neville had survived the previously believed unstoppable Killing Curse, and even that now seemed terribly inadequate to this literal trial by fire.

"Not impossible, but improbable." Albus Dumbledore correctly absently, striding up to stand beside Lily with the largest and most genuinely happy smile anyone had ever seen from him. New tears ran down his face, not of sadness or of rage like before, but of gladness and relief.

The bodies shifted.

Hadrian moved first, his chin lifting as he raised his now bald head in confusion. Bella and Rose then stood, looking around in disbelief and inspecting their nude bodies in shock. Lily cried out, rushing towards her children to embrace them and that was what she did. Fiercely she clung to them, peppering them with kisses wherever she could find skin as tears ran tracks down her eyes.

"Mum." Hadrian whispered, hugging her tightly. Then he saw his Beloved Sisters and nearly wept with joy. Heedless of their nudity, he quickly pulled them to either side of him and Lily, forming a tight family hug of four. No further words were spoken, just stunned relief that the involved parties somehow all came out unscathed and that their plan worked. They would need to deal with the consequences, both good and ill, of demonstrating their Parseltongue abilities though. For now, more hugs were needed.

As Lily pulled back from her children to get detailed looks at them, she could not help but gasp as she realised her son's eyes had underwent a profound change. Instead of his two striking emerald orbs, his irides were now interwoven two-toned wonders. Each of his iris now contained an outer dispersed layer of the purest and clearest amethyst, while the inner layer thankfully still reflected her own distinct eye colour. Together each eye now looked like an affected plasma globe operating on an overabundance of arcane energy, pulsating with power. Rose and Bella both stared at their Brother's eyes with twin expressions of wonder, not knowing that they themselves now borne eyes of similar designs. Rose's left iris matched her Brother's, while her right one was an inverted twin of her left one. Bella's irides were now a mirrored copy of her Sister's [2i].

"What is it? What are you all looking at?" Hadrian asked in confusion, looking down and quickly realising that his chiseled form was on display for the entire crowd to see. He let out a strangled yelp of surprise, just as his sisters also realised that he was naked as the day he was born.

Rose turned the most interesting color of soot covered red and gasped while Bella stared appreciatively, smiling approvingly to herself. Lily herself had an unreadable expression. Hadrian quickly covered his manhood with both hands lengthwise and his sisters both shrieked suddenly when they realised that their own svelte bodies were uncovered. Fortunately, Dumbledore swiftly conjured long cloaks over each of the Eveschatten siblings with a quick flick of his wand.

"I think perhaps Madam Pomfrey should see to the three of you and Mr. Longbottom here." The Headmaster suggested, pointedly looking down at the unconscious Neville floating on a stretcher beside him. "I fear the pain of his injuries caused him to pass out not long after being summoned."

"That sounds wise, Professor." Lily smiled thankfully, still clutching onto her children with trembling hands. Hadrian doubted that his mother would be letting go of them any time in the near future.

"Headmaster, I do not mean to be rude, but there is still Mr. Longbottom's scoring to be judged." Professor Snape stated silkily, earning him a scowl from the dowager for his timing. He quickly continued, "I'm merely pointing out that despite the Potters' [2j]… ah… heroism, Mr. Longbottom failed to accomplish the objective of the first task."

The dowager gritted her teeth angrily at the perceived insult. The Eveschattens though, merely looked upon the developing scene impassively, for this was no longer part of their obligation, and Neville did fail.

"How dare you Snape, if it wasn't for the obviously substandard chains, my Neville would have easily passed the first task!"

Ludovic Bagman, a bumbling and washed-up ex-quidditch star and the current head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports (DMGS), stated in a rare moment of competence, "Unfortunately Lady Augusta, although safety standards for the current iteration of the Triwizard Tournament (TWT) are far higher compared to previous ones due to the number of deaths of competitors that had occurred, us overseers can only guarantee a  **reasonable**  level of safety for the competitors."

Fuming, she turned to the official who had the best grasp of the tournament rules. "Mr. Crouch! What says you on this matter." She demanded curtly.

Unperturbed by the woman's rudeness, Bartemius Crouch Sr., ex-head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (DMLE), current head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation (DIMC), and therefore chief diplomat of Mgc. Britain, responded in his typical clipped and cultured tone, "Mr. Bagman is right, Lady Augusta. The rulebook of the TWT, which was provided to every competitor shortly after the choosing ceremony, clearly states that the tournament officials are only obliged to provide a reasonable standard of duty of care. And seeing how the other three dragons were safely constrained by their chains, your accusations of Ministerial incompetence is inflammatory and baseless."

Seeing that the rules of the tournament and tort laws were not on her side, she turned to her undisputed ally, Lily.

"I have yet to have a chance to read the rules myself, Augusta. However, I have no reason to doubt the validities of Mr. Bagman's and Mr. Crouch's statements. Furthermore, Neville performed admirably during the task, so there is no shame to be felt over the unfortunate incident. Besides, all that really matters is his safety." Left unsaid was that the magical residue left in the wound would almost certainly prevent the missing muscles from growing back.

"Yes, yes, you're correct, Lily." The dowager said, quickly schooling her features, not wanting to cause further embarrassment due to her slip of emotions. Remembering the Eveschatten triplets' contribution, she added formally, "On behalf of House Longbottom, I also thank you and your children for saving Heir Longbottom from an otherwise likely death. Consider House Potter's obligations to House Longbottom to be discharged in full" [2k].

With a triumph smirk on the inside, Lily solemnly intoned, "As friends and allies, we are honour-bound to live up to both roles."

"Indeed." Dumbledore nodded grimly, then turned to Minerva. "Professor McGonagall, would you be so kind as to carry Mr. Longbottom and escort the Eveschattens to Madam Pomfrey's care? I fear that this incident will require our utmost attention."

"Of course, Headmaster." Minerva nodded stiffly, taking control of Neville's stretcher and walking towards the medical tent with the Eveschattens following close behind her.

* * *

🙞🙟 **November 24, 2014, Medical Wing, Hogwarts**  🙝🙜

Hours later in the medical wing, Madam Pomfrey was stumped. She had cast every single detection spell in her vast arsenal, but did not have a single conclusive answer as to why or how the three Eveschattens had survived the dragonfire.

Young Longbottom was slumbered in a bed not far from her watchful eye, having been moved from the tent and sent into an enchanted sleep while she cauterised the open flesh as a temporary measure. Unfortunately, the missing flesh would most likely never be filled in due to the extremely potent intrinsic magick of the dragon. Near him laid the beds of the Eveschatten children with their mother asleep in a chair, having worn herself out keeping watch over her little ones.

Currently, Madam Pomfrey was studying three vials of their blood for any irregularities and was discovering some very odd differences. She honestly did not know what to make of it. The experienced medi-witch even had a vial of Lillian Eveschatten's blood for comparison, but the mother's blood showed no such irregularities.

"Curiouser and curiouser." Pomfrey quoted of a certain mundane author, sitting back in her chair and rubbing her tired eyes as she puzzled over the samples. Of course, she would incinerate the blood come morning. Blood was very dangerous to leave unattended in the Magical World and her oath compelled her to practice professional behaviour relating to her patients at all times.

"Have you discovered anything, Poppy?" The soft voice of Albus Dumbledore questioned, low so to not wake the occupants. Having grown so used to the elderly man's sudden appearances, 'Poppy' Pomfrey was not even startled by the question.

"Their blood is abnormal. I've never seen anything like it, Albus." Poppy shook her head, unable to wrap her mind over how what she had studied was possible in a human being. "Neither Lily's or James' blood had ever showed such features. If it is hereditary, then it goes way back, skipping over generations."

"May I?" Dumbledore requested politely, indicating the blood samples on her desk. Even as Headmaster, he had to receive permission to study the blood of his charges from Hogwarts' medi-wizard or medi-witch and any study must be observed by said medical expert. It was one of the school bylaws, surprisingly put forth by Salazar Slytherin centuries ago.

"Of course, Headmaster." Poppy nodded in the affirmative, looking and feeling helpless as to what she had been studying. "I welcome any insight you can offer because I am well and truly confused."

"My word!" Dumbledore exclaimed quietly a few moments later, sounding startled and excited. Poppy eyed him curiously, crossing her arms to indicate her desire to hear what had caused him to speak. "I've seen this before, many years ago during my work with Nicholas. If I didn't know better, I would swear that I was looking at dragon's blood. You are certain that these samples came from the Eveschattens?"

"Absolutely, Professor. I have not let these vials out of my sight." Poppy confirmed, sounding offended that he would think otherwise. "How is that possible, Headmaster? Humans cannot carry dragon's blood. It would kill them!"

"Ah, now that is the question, isn't it?" Albus smiled, blue eyes twinkling over his thin spectacles in fascination and scholarly delight. "Two humans can not birth a dragon, but neither can a human survive with dragon blood coursing through their veins; yet here we have three humans who carry such blood, and they have even proved immune to dragonfire!"

"What are they?" Pomfrey whispered, staring at the beds of the Eveschattens with undisguised wonder. "How is this even possible? Are-are they even human?"

"They are something new, I dare say. A mutation, perhaps born from magic itself for variety's sake, who can know for certain?" Albus chuckled, happy with the mystery. In his century plus of life, there was little that was new to him, so this was a pleasant surprise. "They are very human, yet they are also dragons. One thing is certain however: blood does not change. What they are now is what they have always been."

"Remarkable. An entirely new species of humanity." Poppy whispered, staring at the beds. In a flash, she destroyed the samples of blood, reducing them to subatomic particles. "It would be best if this was kept only between the Eveschatten family and ourselves."

"I agree." Dumbledore nodded in accord, unwilling to place the family in any greater danger than they already were for surviving dragonfire. "They must be protected, lest a new civilisation be snuffed out before it has a chance to begin. Right now, secrecy is the best way to do that."

"Professor?" Hadrian murmured sleepily, sitting up in his bed. The teen was still half-asleep, the Headmaster noted. "'z that you?"

"I am here, my boy." Dumbledore assured, walking across the Hospital Wing to Hadrian's bed and smiling down kindly to him. "Your friend Neville is doing well. He should be fine by morning. We will have much to discuss then."

"'k." Hadrian nodded, eyes half-closed. He was about to doze back off when those remarkable emerald-amethyst eyes opened wide with urgency as a thought struck him. "Professor, what of the Horntail's eggs? Will they be okay?"

"It is difficult to say. Dragons are remarkably adaptive creatures." The Headmaster answered carefully, a small smile on his face at the boy's concern. "However, they are very young and still undeveloped. It is unlikely that they will survive without their mother. Professor Snape, in particular, showed an interest in laying claim to them if they were to die."

"No!" Hadrian half-shouted, startling the elder Professor with the outburst. "I won't let Snape turn them into potions ingredients. Let me have the eggs. I'll raise them. Our isle off of the Isle of Skye is remote enough that we wouldn't have to worry about any mundanes seeing them."

"Raise a dragon?" Dumbledore chuckled in amusement, pleased that the lad had so much compassion and respect for other magical beings. "I sincerely doubt you are a licensed Dragon Breeder or a Dragon Handler. Dragons are not like cats and owls, Hadrian. They are far too powerful and wild to be tamed."

"I don't want to tame them." Hadrian stated quietly, but firmly, one hand running along his newly bald head. "That dragon was only trying to defend her young. I can't let them just die, after all of that. It would be wrong, disrespectful. Please Headmaster, let me hatch them?"

"If it means that much to you, my boy, then I suppose I had best begin the paperwork. I expect you to fully commit yourself to learning all that you can in the meantime." The ancient Professor said finally, staring down at the teen sternly. "You may find that despite all of your efforts, the eggs may not survive to hatchlings. Considering their young age, I would surprised if one of the three did so."

"Thank you, sir. I'll take good care of them." Hadrian vowed, giving a large smile to the old Headmaster as he laid himself back onto the bed. "Good night, Professor."

"Sleep well, Mr. Eveschatten." Dumbledore smiled, bidding his promising student a good rest as he left to begin the paperwork for a Dragon Breeding Licence (DBL) and a list of books on the subject for the young wizard to study. He had little doubt that Hagrid would be more than willing to help, the Groundskeeper did have experience in hatching dragons after all.

* * *

Few moments after Dumbledore had left, Rose and Bella began to stir. Rubbing their eyes, they saw their brother sitting upright on his hospital bed, looking at nothing particular with a pensive expression on his handsome face.

"What's wrong, Arie?" Bella decided to ask first.

"Even for a magical incident, you don't think us surviving dragonfire, unscathed mind you, was natural or normal, do you?" Hadrian pondered out loud to his sisters.

Bella and Rose shared a look, which prompted Rose to slowly say after a few seconds, "No. I definitely think not. There is no such thing recorded in any of the texts that I've consumed."

"Not to mention, I felt that the dragon was judging us, like she was about to tell us some grand mystery of the mechanics of the universe." Bella added.

"Yeah, I don't think us surviving was a fluke. I mean, look at our eyes! They used to be emerald, but now they look like the ocular designs of someone on an acid trip! I certainly have not heard about any sort of unmediated magical occurrence that can permanently change someone's features."

"Anyway, I have another thing to tell you two." Hadrian stated with that roguish smirk the sisters so adored, one which a devilish prank usually followed.

Equal parts excited and nervous, the sisters spoke as one, "Well, don't keep us waiting, Arie!"

Letting the suspense build for a few moments longer than necessary, Hadrian said, oh so nonchalantly, "Have you ever wanted to become parents of dragons?"

* * *

© Hadrian von Eveschatten, 2019

* * *

**Footnotes**

[2a] This naming convention is a personal preference for me. I simply do not like the name Harry for someone who is supposed to be powerful and meant for great things; the name is a weak diminutive. On the other hand Hadrian is a name that just conveys strength and nobility, one that was used by a famous Roman Emperor no less. For the middle name, I want something that is tied to Lily, yet at the same time gender-neutral, such as 'Spencer'. Therefore, I chose 'Lilian', the the male variant of the French female name 'Lillian'. As for the last name, I do not know what JKR was thinking when coming up with 'Potter' as the name for a supposed great house of Mgc. Britain. So instead, I will be initially using Eveschatten (inspired by Eveningshade, à la _Passageways_ , by jerrway69) as a means to convey the triplets' bond to their mother Lily, and later on Targaryen or both Eveschatten and Targaryen. Perhaps I can do better with the triplets' full names, so feel free to give your suggestions in the comments and review section.

I also modified/changed the names of Rose and Bella to Rosaline Mabel and Belladonna Alexandria respectively, for multiple reasons: (1) I want to keep the naming convention of the Eveschatten women's first names as names of flowers consistent. The types of flowers I chose for the sisters are not random either. Rosaline seems sweet, but her thorns can stab you without warning. Belladonna is beautiful and just as vicious. (2) For their middle names I chose ones that are vaguely aristocratic in origin. Mabel is in keeping with Rose's seemingly sweet demeanor; and Alexandria was obviously derived from Alexander the Great.

[2b] The allegories are pretty obvious. The snakes refer to Voldemort and his groupies. The bears refer to House Longbottom if Rose's nickname for Neville is anything to go by. And the white honey bee refers to Dumbledore. It is easy to understand why the first group are and will be the Eveschattens' enemies. For the Longbottoms, now that the Eveschattens are no longer forced to act as their allies by obligation, perhaps the two families' differing views will become more transparent and irreconcilable. As for Dumbledore, so far there is no shred of evidence even suggesting that he has ulterior motives unfriendly to the Eveschattens; however, once the Eveschattens become more vocal and assertive about their agendas, who knows how they will interact, especially considering Dumbledore's own murky past with Grindelwald?

[2c] This may seem like an inconsequential detail, however some instances of the familial terms the Eveschattens refer to each other with are capitalised due to the deep emotional meaning they hold to the speaker or the person the scene's perspective is written from. Thus, when Rose and Bella refer to their brother in instances of importance, they say "Brother" or other variations; whereas in non-important situations, they simply say "brother".

[2d] My Hadrian's mentality has some overlap with his counterpart from _For Love of Magic_ , by Noodlehammer, where Hadrian "would sneer at a slave for not casting off their own chains or die trying."

[2e] Yeah, there is no way in hell I am making the Eveschattens subservient to another house. I provide a short background for House Potter (now made up of only the Eveschattens), one that was illustrious before its fall. As such, even though the Eveschattens are on good terms with Neville, they will not continue to do so, if at all, from a position of weakness. This background provides another reason for Hadrian and his family to again bring about greatness to their names.

[2f] My apologies about the cliqued political divides presented here, yet I do not know how to come up with a more nuanced political landscape at this moment (I am writing this part in the early morning, as such my brain is not functioning at optimal levels, lol.).

[2g] As you can tell by the story's opening AN, I am not a fan of Hadrian's retarded dumpling routine to jump in front of dragonfire, and thereby leading his sisters along with him, as a result of their misplaced trust, to die ignoble deaths. So while I know using Parseltongue to intelligently engage with the dragon in the TWT is not new to HP fanfiction, I am not going to have my future conquerors risk their own lives with no probable plan just to save Longbottom of all people.

[2h] As you can see, I completely changed the strategy and tactic of how the siblings dealt with the situation. Furthermore, after all Hadrian had seen of the dragon's suffering and plight, I sure as hell am not going to have her killed due to the tournament overseers' ill thought out plans for the TWT.

[2i] Since I clearly need to reflect the awakening of the triplets' Valyrian genes and blood, yet at the same time wishing to preserve a visual link to their mother, the solution I came up with (after some back-and-forth discussion with dingo-822 through PM) is a two-toned iris. The outer dispersed amethyst layer in Hadrian's irides represents his future, while the unchanged emerald inner layer serves as his close bond with Lillian. I have no real reason to make both of Rose's and Bella's irides inverted twins, except for subtly differentiating each of the siblings' eyes. Also these changes may seem purely cosmetic now, I guarantee that they will serve as important element later in the story. Also, while these changes may seem purely cosmetic now, I guarantee that they will serve as important element later in the story.

[2j] Snape is an ass. He is not one to respect and abide by other people's self-chosen names if he can get away with it.

[2k] The modern nature of House Potter's alliance with House Longbottom is public knowledge by now, therefore the Dowager Longbottom has no reason to be guarded about that piece of information.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End Author's Notes
> 
> Well, what do you readers think of my DHTH Chapter 1 rewrite? Please leave your comments, suggestions, and critiques below in the review and comments section. And because this story is till in its infancy, feel free to offer ideas for plot progression.


	3. Ch. 03: Coming to Terms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes
> 
> This is the rewrite of Chapter 2 of The Dragon Has Three Heads (DHTH), by TheLaughingMan1, after which will be my Epic of the Triumvirate Dragonborn Conquerors (ETDC). Before I go any further, I again thank TheLaughingMan1 for his enjoyable work on the existing two chapters of DHTH.
> 
> This chapter contains mostly dialogue, which helps to set the tones of various relationships, as well as differentiating ETDC from DHTH in terms of character development, character focus, and plot directions. The original dialogue are quite good, though I added my own colouring here and there. Readers will notice that quite a bit of dialogue are added to the scenes between Hadrian and Neville, Hadrian and Rose, and the siblings (Hadrian and Rose) and Fleur. This chapter also introduces Daphne, who helps to move the plot, let us just say.
> 
> Now, onwards with the story.
> 
> Beta readers are also welcome to contribute to this story.
> 
> Publish date: 2019-04-14
> 
> Edit (2019-04-22): The triplets' new hair colours have been changed from their end states of silver or silver blond(e) to their new initial transition states.

**Arc 01: Reconfiguration**

**Ch. 03: Coming to Terms**

* * *

( _See the opening AN for legalese, detailed story parametres, and text formatting legend._ )

* * *

🙞🙟 **November 28, 2014, The Great Hall, Hogwarts**  🙝🙜

Neville sat at the Gryffindor table, quietly eating his morning porridge as he mulled over the last few days of his life. He ignored everyone around him, including the phantom pain caused by the missing chunk of his upper right leg, blocking them out as he considered the changes in the school since the miraculous events of the First Task.

Over night, the Eveschatten triplets had become celebrities. Neville had read many articles in the Daily Prophet about their survival as "experts" theorised over how and why they had survived the dragonfire. No one really knew for sure, so naturally everyone was having a grand time making up their own truths.

A few people were even convinced that the Eveschattens were secretly dragon animagi, which was ridiculous to say the least. No one had ever been a magical animagus, not even Merlin. The Eveschatten Trio were strong, yes, but they were not  **that**  powerful. Anyone with that kind of magic would not need to become a dragon, they would be so insanely powerful that they would not even need a wand to do the sort of magic that would exhaust even Albus Dumbledore. Little did Neville know, the last conjecture would not prove to be so inaccurate.

There were a bunch of other theories: the Eveschattens were the heirs of Merlin; the Eveschattens were the Founders reborn, though how one Founder was left out was naturally brushed off; the Eveschattens were actually Fire Salamanders under clever glamours; and so on. It was pretty crazy stuff and that was just the general talk.

Some people actually believed that the Eveschattens were Dark, believe it or not. Granted, opening using Parseltongue did not help to calm down the ignorant speculators. Now, thinking Bella was dark, Neville could understand, and maybe Hadrian in a long shot, but Rose? Really? Rose Eveschatten was one of the nicest people Neville knew. A bit flirty, but that did not make her evil. If Rose flirted, it was for two reasons: she felt comfortable around you or wanted to embarrass you a little.

Neville honestly felt sorry for her. Poor Rose had lost all of her hair in the dragonfire incident and now had to grow it back. Neville didn't know much about girls, but he knew that both Rose and Bella had been very proud of their hair. To make it worse, he had overheard more than one girl laughing about the Eveschatten girls' lack of hair. He really hoped none of them were stupid enough to say anything to Bella. Be it on their heads if they did.

Still, something had changed in them. Their eyes were now even more freaky, not that he would ever say that out loud, least in front of Bella, lest he wanted his Grandmother to find his dead body in someplace of ill repute. No, the colour purple did not do their new eyes justice; never before had he seen a shade of amethyst more pure and powerful. He swore that they sometimes pulsated with the same kind of luminosity as that Mundane superhero's arc power source and energy beam weapons did from the comic books Hadrian had given him to ease his way into Mundane culture. Anyhow, what hair had grown back so far had changed. Their hair seemed to each show a skunk stripe now. The reason for such a change was anybody's guess.

Hadrian was a bit different now, Neville had noticed. He was more standoffish, more apart from the crowd than ever before. He did not speak as much and looked as though he had not been getting much sleep either. A good bit of the time, no one even knew where Hadrian was. He just disappeared for hours on end. It was a little suspicious to the rest of Gryffindor House. The sensible ones just presumed he spent most of his time with his sisters, as the triplets usually did anyway.

Finishing his breakfast, Neville stood up from the table with his newly acquired cane and walked out of the Great Hall in search of his friend. He did not complain about the discomfort walking now caused him, for he knew he would surely have died had the Eveschattens not intervened. As it was an early Saturday morning, Ron was still asleep in the tower and Hermione had disappeared into the library before Neville woke up. Knowing Hadrian as well as he did, Neville made for the abandoned third highest tower to the west side of the castle.

He ignored the whispers of other students when he saw them and took several secret passages to avoid any more notice, choosing one of the more roundabout paths to the favourite hangout of the Eveschatten siblings. As far as he was aware, only Neville knew where the triplets liked to roost when away from their dormitories.

Early in their First Year, Hadrian had discovered a way into the forgotten part of the school while exploring Hogwarts; or so he said. Neville believed that it was more likely Sirius had told him how to get around the various enchantments meant to keep students out of the unused sections of the prestigious school. Either way, Hadrian had claimed a portion of it for himself and his sisters.

Later, he and Neville had added protective charms of their own to the corridors leading up to the top most room, casting the spells together so as to make them more effective and longer lasting than they would otherwise be. He suspected that Bella and Rose had made their own contributions to the security of the hangout abode at later dates.

Neville knocked lightly on the ancient oak door, smiling faintly when he noticed the initials carved near the bottom. 'HE', 'BE', 'RE', and finally his own 'NL'. He remembered when they had done that in their Second Year, back when everyone in the school had thought Neville was the Heir of Slytherin. The Tower, as they called it, had been a godsend for Neville when everything just became too much and he needed a quiet place to relax.

"Come on in, Neville." Hadrian's muffled voice called out. Well, it was good to know that the proximity charms were holding up nicely. He made a mental note that Hadrian and he needed to recast those charms before the year was out or else they would fade during the summer break.

Neville stepped into the room and almost immediately broke out in a sweat. It was as hot as a furnace in the Tower, the fireplace was blazing red hot and putting out an immense amount of heat into the round room. After the coolness and draftiness of the passages, the room felt stifling and made it difficult to breath. Neville tossed off his winter cloak and loosened his collar, seeking relief from the heat.

Hadrian sat in his usual armchair by the fire, though how he could possibly stand to be next to the fireplace was beyond Neville's comprehension. His old mate was not even sweating, instead looking as comfortable as could be in his winter clothes. Looking around, he noticed that the sisters were not present in the room, which was rather strange, but his attention was drawn to the three large oval objects sitting in the midst of the hearth's inferno.

"Hadrian, why do you have three dragon eggs in the Tower?" Neville questioned hesitantly, warily eyeing the eggs as he recalled his latest experience with dragons. He shuddered at the memory of the gigantic beast.

"The Headmaster was kind enough to let me have them." Hadrian stated, smiling briefly as his emerald-amethyst eyes turned back to the eggs. "Without their mother present, they would probably die. I couldn't let that happen, Neville."

"Mate, this is illegal." The Longbottom Heir pointed out worriedly, not wanting his friend to get into trouble. "And dangerous. You can't hatch three dragons inside of a school. What if they get out? What if they set fire to the Tower? You know what dragonfire can do."

"Don't worry, Mum has already applied for a Dragon Breeding Licence. Once the paperwork goes through, I'll transport them home to Skye." Hadrian replied unconcernedly, watching the eggs with a frightening intensity. "It'll be fine."

"If you say so." Neville nodded, swallowing his protests and warnings. He knew full well that Hadrian would not listen to him. Hadrian never listened to anyone, except for the Eveschatten women, once he made up his mind. Walking over to the couch, Neville sat down and asked, "How's Rose and Bella doing?"

"Scared. Confused. Depressed." Hadrian murmured in answer, the only hint of concern and sadness that he showed was in his eyes. "Fortunately, Madam Pomfrey had Snape brewing up a batch of hair stimulation tonic for them. In a few weeks, they'll have hair that will be as long as they want it."

"That's good." Neville smiled, glad to hear it. He wiped away the sweat that threatened to fall into his eyes with his sleeve. "I know how much they love their hair, but, well, I guess it won't be exactly the same, will it?"

"No, it won't. Bella went a little mad for a while. Madam Pomfrey had to restrain her to the bed until she calmed down." He recalled, then gave Neville a small grin, "I don't think she likes how a portion of her hair resembles Delacour's now. She ranted for quite some time about 'infestation of the bitch kind'. Rose didn't take it quite as badly, but it still wasn't pretty.""I'd imagine not." Neville admitted, nodding. "I'm surprised that they aren't here with you. Where are they?"

"Rose is probably either in the library or off making Sue blush. That poor girl has the biggest crush on her." Hadrian smiled briefly, thinking of the pretty Chinese-British girl who was painfully shy and hopelessly in lust with his tease of a younger sister. "I have no idea where Bella is. Probably visiting Hagrid. You know how those two love to talk about magical creatures."

"How are you doing, mate?" Neville asked him, concerned for his friend. Hadrian opened his mouth to answer, but Neville cut him off pointedly. "Really."

"I don't know. Different." Hadrian said quietly, staring down at his hands and rubbing them together lightly as if exploring them. "I can't describe it. It's just this feeling I have, like a part of me has slid into place. I'm more myself, but I still feel different. It doesn't make any sense."

"Few emotions do." Neville advised, showing surprising wisdom for someone so young. "I'm here if you need me, mate. I don't know how I could help, but I'll try my best."

"Thanks, Neville, but you have your own problems to worry about." Hadrian told him, looking at his cane while he did so.

Neville could not help but wince as he absently rubbed his upper right leg. "Yeah, during the First Task, I didn't even notice, with the adrenaline and me being scared out of my mind. Now though, I'm slowly adjusting to my new reality." He said with a grimace. "Still, it could've been a lot worse, and maybe now I can rack up some street cred with Moody if I decide to pursue a law enforcement career later on." He joked.

Hadrian did not say anything, just sat there to act as a bastion of support and nonjudgment for his friend and ally.

With a sigh, Neville added, "I never got the chance to thank you for what you and your family did for me, mate. I wouldn't be here limping along had your mum not literally summoned me to the Top Box while you and your sisters distracted the dragon."

"That's what friends and allies are supposed to do, Neville." Hadrian replied with a grin. How else was he supposed to act, tell him that a large part of his family's rapid decision tree on his rescue was due to a beneficial political maneuver? Yeah, maybe, but not today or the near future at least.

Although truly touched by the Eveschattens' actions, Neville was not comfortable being so emotional. So he quickly and transparently switched subjects. "You know, Hadrian, while the Boy-Who-Lived becoming the Boy-Who-Is-Now-Crippled is certainly still big news, the media and simple-minded wankers will no doubt have a field day and go bonkers over you and your sisters' Parseltongue display, right?"

With a confident smirk, Hadrian said, "Don't worry about it Neville, we have already crafted a plan to deal with situation. If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone for now. I really need to think over everything."

Relieved that his friend was taking things largely in stride, he said, "Sure. Take care of yourself, Hadrian." Neville stood up and headed for the door, pausing to shoot one more look to confirm his observation, then exited the room and headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Hadrian waited a few moments, then stood up from his chair and made his way over to kneel in front of the hearth. The dragon eggs were as large as an ostrich egg, each one a mix of muddy red and earthy brown. He took a deep breath, focusing on the urge he felt. It was a curious thing, as if he had once known exactly what to do, but had forgotten it, when he knew for sure that he had not ever read anything like this.

Gathering his courage, Hadrian reached into the flames and took hold of the center most dragon egg, then carefully withdrew it from the fire. Something squirmed inside of him, a twisting feeling of anticipation and growing desire. He studied the egg, caressing the fine scale-like ridges in an almost loving manner before he closed his eyes.

He focused on channeling his magic to his hands, feeling them warm and grow heavier as the magic increased in density. Breathing in through his nose, Hadrian guided his magic into leaking from his palms as he began to slowly rub the egg as if polishing it. Everywhere that his hands went, the egg darkened in color until finally he held an egg in his palms that was as black as a moonless night.

Emerald-amethyst eyes glowed faintly as Hadrian began to pour the magic from his hands, which now felt almost effortless as compared to his previous attempts over the years, pushing it past the shell into the barely formed dragon fetus inside. So slowly that it was almost unnoticeable, the egg grew in size and the luster of its shell increased until it shined. Slowly, Hadrian placed the dragon egg back into the flames, then withdrew his hands from the fire.

He stood up and swayed, feeling absolutely exhausted as he staggered over to his favorite armchair to sit. Nearly as soon as he was seated, Hadrian was out cold.

* * *

🙞🙟 **November 28, 2014, Charms Corridor, Hogwarts**  🙝🙜

Belladonna Alexandria Eveschatten kept her chin up as she strode down the hall, ignoring the pointing fingers and hushed conversations all around her. Groups of girls giggled as she passed, making her grit her teeth in anger.

Her hair, her beautiful ebony hair, was gone. Madam Pomfrey had assured Bella that her hair would grow back as soon as Snape finished the potion, but for the moment she was almost embarrassingly bald, the long wild locks that she had been so proud of was replaced by mere stubble, with a silver patch at the front no less! Where once other girls had envied her and shot her looks of jealousy, now they giggled as she passed and whispered about her behind her back.

None had thus far been stupid enough to say anything to her face, although she longed for even the slightest hint of confrontation. Humiliation burned inside her and she ached to return their whispers with pain, so that she could have some sort of release. Her fingers lightly caressed the Hawthorn wand sheathed at her waist, longing for some distraction, watchful for any excuse to unleash her emotions.

"Nice hair, Eveschatten!" Marietta Edgecombe, one of Cho Chang's little sycophants, called out mockingly as the group of girls surrounding her began to snicker. A mean smile was on the little bitch's face and she looked very pleased by her own wit.

" _Alligans Funis_!" Bella snarled as she whipped around, stabbing her wand in Edgecombe's direction. A thin length of rope flew from the tip of the wand, wrapping around the Ravenclaw's neck. She ignored the startled screams from the other girls and pulled back on her wand harshly, causing Edgecombe to fall to her knees on the cold stone floor of the corridor.

Edgecombe's hands scrambled for her wand, but Bella twisted her own Hawthorn wand, tightening the rope until the girl was gasping for breathe. She approached the downed older teen with slow predatory steps, relishing in the moment. Bella gave a snap of the wrist, forcing the girl to roll onto her back so that she could glare down into her eyes.

"What was that, Edgecombe?" Bella questioned lightly, her voice soft and attentive. It was ruined by the cruel smirk on her lips. Edgecombe's face was beginning to purple from the lack of air, but Bella was having far too much fun to stop now. "Were you admiring my new hairstyle? It is rather bold, I admit. I bet that you wish you could do something similar with that ugly rug that you call 'hair', isn't that right?"

Bella loosened the rope enough so that Edgecombe could breathe a bit easier and stared down at her, her inverted emerald-amethyst eyes daring the Ravenclaw to deny her words. None of her friends tried to come to her aid, they were too afraid of what Bella would do to them if they did. Slowly, Edgecombe nodded and gasped, "Y-Yes."

"'Yes', what Edgecombe?" The bald girl mocked, tightening the rope again threateningly. "Yes, that you are jealous of me? That you love my new look? That I am much prettier bald than you could ever hope to be?"

"Yes, I love your hair!" Edgecombe screamed out, wheezing as she desperately tried to inhale oxygen into her lungs. She wished that she had not said a word. Marietta had hoped to win some approval from the group, but was suicidally overconfident that someone of Belladonna Eveschatten's calibre would not retaliate with disturbing prejudice. Thus she was publicly humiliated instead.

"Why, thank you, Marietta. I'm flattered." Bella purred dangerously, her emerald-amethyst eyes dancing sadistically as she stared the girl down. "It takes a lot of courage to speak the truth. How can I repay your compliment, I wonder? I know!  _Radet Capillum_!"

A thin ball of purple light leaped from Bella's wand, hitting Edgecombe on her head. The jinx caused her entire head to glow purple for a few seconds, then the jinx's purpose became clear. Marietta Edgecombe's long brown curls fell off in large clumps. Her hand reached up shakily, tears filling up her doe-like eyes as she realised what Bella had done. She let out a choked sob, embarrassed beyond belief as she stared at the clump of hair in her hand.

"There you go. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Now you look just like me, only, well, much uglier." Bella smirked smugly, banishing the rope and slowly levitating Edgecombe up, then propping her up against the corridor wall. " _Petrificus Totalus_. This way, everyone can see your fabulous new haircut, Edgecombe. Consider this a gift."

Bella then turned and continued down the corridor on her way to Potions class, sauntering with every step. As soon as she had turned the corner, Edgecombe's friends quickly freed her, but the damage was done.

It did not take long for a certain bushy haired Muggleborn to catch up to her, but Bella ignored the know-it-all, whom she disliked, as best as she could. Of course, Hermione Granger could not keep her opinions to herself for long.

"That was cruel, Eveschatten." Granger spat out as Bella neared the Potions classroom, causing Bella's face to tighten in annoyance. "You should be ashamed of yourself, using magic in the corridors and attacking another student on top of that. You'll be in detention for a month when Professor McGonagall finds out."

"Leave it alone, Granger. " Bella snapped grumpily, having been enjoying her moment of victory until the annoying girl spoke to her. "I was just having a bit of fun. You don't approve? Go and squeal to McGonagall like I know you want to, then see what happens. I promise it won't be as nice as what I did to Edgecombe."

"Are you threatening me?" Granger demanded, her hair fluffing out like an angry cat. Bella rolled her eyes in annoyance, ' _As if she is worth the effort_.' She then grabbed Granger's pale throat and slammed her against the damp dungeon wall.

"Shut up!" Bella said sharply, noticing Hermione beginning to open her mouth. She brandished her Hawthorn wand, pointing the tip at the girl's left eye [3a]. "I don't make threats, Granger. I explain consequences. Do not test me."

"If you think that you can bully me like some First Year student, then-" Hermione began to snap, but paused as the sound of footsteps neared them. Both girls turned their heads as one as Professor Snape walked around the corner.

"Am I interrupting a private moment?" The Potions Master drawled sarcastically, looking pointedly at the position the two girls were in as he crossed his arms over his chest. It only enhanced his bat-like look.

"No!" Bella quickly denied, letting go of Granger as if she was poisonous while the Gryffindor blushed at the insinuation. Snape's coal black eyes lingered on Bella's wand, then slowly rose up to meet Bella's emerald-amethyst ones.

"I see." He said softly, then turned to Granger. "Ms. Granger, class will begin shortly, so perhaps it would be prudent for you to leave. It seems I must have a conversation with my student concerning inappropriate behavior in the corridors."

"Yes, Professor." Granger nodded, gathering up her bag and tossing it over her shoulder. She shot Bella a victorious look as she headed on to class. Bella glared at her turned back until the annoyance was out of sight.

"I really hate her." Bella murmured disdainfully, turning to face her Head of House, only to find that Snape was glaring at her. "What?"

"Your family has caught the public's eye, Ms. Eveschatten. Your actions will reflect back on Slytherin, in addition to your family." Snape lectured, sneering the word 'family' when he spoke. "While I understand your frustration, for the time being it would be wise to restrain yourself. Upsetting the student populace will only make things more difficult for you and your siblings. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Professor." Bella gritted out, gnashing her teeth. Snape had never given her a lecture before; he had never needed to. It was humiliating for her of all people to be scolded by her Head of House as if she was an ignorant Firstie.

"I hope so, Ms. Eveschatten. I would hate to punish one of Slytherin's brightest students, particularly one slated to make Prefect next year." Snape stated disapprovingly, a hint of warning in his tone. "If you must, ah, deal with Ms. Granger, do so in a manner befitting your high standing within our House. Off with you now."

"Yes, Professor." Bella said plainly, swiftly walking down the corridor to class. With any luck, the potion today would be a finicky one. Maybe she could distract Granger somehow and toss a bit of rat intestine into the girl's potion. On second thought, no. What she did to Edgecombe was the sort of cruelty she normally reserved for the kind of people who were stupid enough to threaten her or royally pissed her off. Edgecombe was simply unfortunate enough to catch her on a very, very, very bad hair day. She would not stoop lower by petulantly ruining another student's work, even someone as brown-nosing as Granger.

Before she could progress any further, another figure came forth from an intersecting corridor.

Daphne Ophelia Greengrass was a dyed-in-the-wool type of Slytherin. With her mane of spun golden silk, ice-blue eyes, refined features, and voluptuous body, Daphne was every inch of the aristocratic heiress every Pureblood aspired to be but many failed at. Excessive inbreeding without the means to purge the buildup of harmful genes was not conductive to magical prowess, let alone not looking deformed, after all; and as much as historical figures such as Charles II of House Habsburg made for fine case studies illustrating that fact, one which anyone with even the most basic understanding of biology could understand, not that any "proper" Pureblood would bother themself with any Muggle knowledge, "people" like Crabbe and Goyle made Charles II looked like Prince Charming in comparison. Daphne was not like the typical Pureblood though, not after Bella rudely introduced her to the many advancements made by Mundanes over the past few centuries. Except for her little sister Astoria, Tracey, and Lucretia, Bella was the only one whom Daphne got along well with in Slytherin. Similarly, Daphne's group were the only people whom Bella associated with in her School House. The two shared many similar character traits, though whereas Bella was quick to slash her wand at the offending party, Daphne's first line of attack was usually with a caustic put-down [3b].

"Bella." Daphne nodded to her friend in greeting. "I just saw Granger walking by with that holier-than-thou expression on her face again. You wouldn't have anything to do with that, would you?" She asked, although already suspecting what the answer might be.

"Daphne." Bella greeted back. "You're not wrong. That bookworm saw me taking some of my frustrations out on Edgecombe, not my finest moment mind you, so she'll no doubt tell McGonagall about the latest bout of fiendish behaviour from this Bellatrix reincarnation later today." She finished with an eye-roll and slight pout.

"Well, as much as Edgecombe and Granger are lacking in rationality in their own ways, don't expect me to tell you what you did was that smart." Daphne replied, though not unkindly.

"I know, that's why I love you, Daphne." Bella jested half-sarcastically.

Daphne did not bother dignifying that statement. Instead, she went right for the follicle, er, meat of issue. "That's a bold look you're sporting, Bella, although I confess I have trouble seeing you keeping that bloodthirsty Buddhist nun look indefinitely." She quipped with an upward lift by the corner of her dainty lips.

"You bet your sweet little ass I won't." Bella said with a huff. "Although, seeing as how my siblings' and my own eye colours all changed to amethyst after that unwanted, though spectacular, baptism-by-fire, I can reasonably presume that our hairs will grow out the same colour as well."

At the mention of her brother's name, Daphne's cheeks coloured slightly, which would have went unnoticed by most people. But Bella was not most people, and she had been Daphne's friend for many years now for such a minute display to slip by her.

"Oho, what's this? Is Slytherin's Ice Queen having amorous thoughts about someone?" Bella teased.

"Like you're one to talk, Ms. 'Frere Amant'." Daphne quickly deflected, not wanting to affirm or deny that probe.

Bella frowned at that comment, being unpleasantly reminded of that French harpy. Still, she did not bother denying that flippant remark. Because just like Bella, Daphne was very adept at reading the subtleties of human interactions too, and Bella would bet the regrowth of her hair that her friend had at least picked up on her vastly different modes of behaviour around her brother compared to other males.

With a sigh, Daphne added, "Look, Bella. We both aren't the type of women who are mushy with our feelings, but we do take what we want."

No more words needed to be said between the pair, so they proceeded to walk into the Potions classroom for another session of thrilling learning experience with the cheerful Professor Snape.

* * *

🙥🙤  **November 28, 2014, A Forgotten Hall, Hogwarts**  🙦🙧

To Hadrian Eveschatten, family was everything. Well, many things certainly, but he would not indulge in zealotry either. It had always been this way, even going back to childhood. Neville was his friend, yes, but there was a distance between them that could not be breached, certain secrets and thoughts that could never be shared. Neville was a friend, not family. Family was what one made of it. And even operating based on that modified definition, Neville simply was not his family.

Hadrian was fortunate enough to count only his gorgeous Sisters and Mother as his family. Had James Potter still been alive, he and his sisters would have simply treated him as their inconsequential sperm donor and nothing more [3c]. Still, he would admit, at least to himself, that his feelings towards his father was in part due to the possessiveness he felt towards his female kin. James' legacies, or lack of, simply cemented Hadrian's opinion that James was not worthy of Hadrian's Mother as her mate and Hadrian's Sisters as their Father [3d]. To this day, his Mother still refused to reveal the reason(s) for her break-up with James, although he suspected it had something to do with James overriding Lily's concerns by choosing Peter 'Wormtail' Pettigrew as his family's Fidelius Secret Keeper, a decision that in hindsight looked positively retarded, to say nothing of Pettigrew's slimy moniker.

 _Live for the family; die with the family._ That was a motto he could live with, insofar his current family composition at least. Those had always been his thoughts on the matter. Everyone needed some guiding first principles to live by, some set of values and things to devote themselves wholly and be loyal to. For Hadrian, that was his family. Everyone else did not seem real to him. He could not understand them, could not empathise with them, and as such they could not be trusted, unless both parties invested the resources to do so [3e].

Aside from Neville, Hadrian did not have many other close friends or associates in the world. The exceptions were the individuals whom he and his sisters saw potentials in and got along with.

Daphne Ophelia Greengrass and Padma Saraswati Patil were both intelligent girls, and he could appreciate their commercial ambitions and scholarly interests. Daphne, in Slytherin House, was learning the trade as the heiress to her family's business that grew and sourced high quality potion ingredients; while Padma, in Ravenclaw House, had her sights set on becoming an Unspeakable within the Department of Mysteries (DMys / DoM).

Lucretia Adrasteia Zabini [3f], in Slytherin House, was the sole child of the infamous Black Widow, Adrasteia Zabini [3f], throughout her numerous marriages, all of which just happened to result in the no doubt tragic losses of her husbands, all of whom were coincidentally wealthy. Normally, someone close to a serial killer was an individual whom Hadrian would be highly cautious of, because although James Potter bungled the management of the Potter wealth, Hadrian's family was still moderately wealthy; however, through some digging, he discovered that all of Adrasteia's ex-husbands were the sort of people whom the traditionally-inclined British Purebloods would hold up as 'pillars of society'—not real losses in his humble opinion. Even though Adrasteia was the sort of woman who could leave hapless men dead with smiles on their faces with practiced ease, and Lucretia likely her mother's protégée, he and his sisters were not exactly saints themselves, thus an association of mutual benefits could still be realised with the duo femme fatales.

Susan Amelia Bones, in Hufflepuff House, was someone else he was on good terms with. The girl might seem shy to strangers, but one did not grow up under the guardianship of the Head of the DMLE without learning to grow a strong backbone. Her direct line to her aunt, Amelia Bones, was just a bonus.

Cho Chang [3f], in Ravenclaw House, was also someone high on the social ladder. She was academically competent no doubt, however most of her social capital came from her prowess as the Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team, something that he could attest to from the numerous aerial duels he had had with her over the past two years in interhouse quidditch matches, the connections of her well-chosen friends, and her position as the heiress of her family's import business, sourcing goods primarily from East Asia.

Parvati Priyanka Patil was seemingly the polar opposite of her twin Padma, being one of two definitive gossips in Gryffindor House, along with her friend Lavender Brown. Underneath her persona of an airhead however, was someone who had a masterful touch on the pulse of the schoolyard grapevine, therefore a natural information broker if he ever interacted with one.

Tracey Davis and Astoria Abigail Greengrass, both in Slytherin House, were Daphne's supposed closest friend and little sister respectively. Tracey was the daughter of a father from a minor Pureblood house and a Muggleborn mother, which meant she too was technically a Pureblood, but when had inconvenient facts got in the way of the prejudices of Purebloods clinging on to power? Because of this, Tracey had tried, and was largely successful in, keeping a low profile in her School House. Astoria was two Years below her sister and a ball of sunshine or a spitfire to be around, depending on the energetic young girl's mercurial mood. It did not take too long for him and his sisters to take a shine to her however, looking out for her whenever possible.

Luna Lovegood [3f], in Ravenclaw House, was a quirky, but harmless girl a Year above Astoria, one whom he had yet to interact with in any meaningful capacity. Her, ah, unique, worldview however, had lead to some bullying, though thankfully mostly still the emotional kind at this point, that had slowly been getting worse over her two years at Hogwarts. Apart from any tangible value she might bring to his family's causes, he simply could not ignore her state any longer in good conscience.

And lastly, there was Fleur Delacour [3f], the exotic, yet no doubt competent, elegant French TWT competitor. He could not be sure, but the feeling she gave off back in the tent was simply too perfect to be fully human, almost like the… Veela… cheerleaders of the Bulgarian Men's National Quidditch Team at the Quidditch World Cup this past summer. Well, that would explain it then. It was amusing to Hadrian how similar Delacour and Bella were in personality. One short meeting in and they were already at each other's throats, like two females fighting over the same piece of territory. If they could get past their mutual animosity towards each other, which would definitely require him to play mediator at least a few more times, he was confident that Delacour would make for a good ally in the future [3g].

Hermione Emma Granger, in Gryffindor House, might have been his friend, but his sisters took exception to that possibility, something about "not worthy of his attention". That happened during their First Year, so he could not be sure of the validity of that statement. History had validated his sisters' objections though; her excessive deference to authoritative figures and institutions was a pitiable and naïve attribute if he was feeling charitable in his opinion.

It did not escape his notice that the people whom he just listed were all females. He would not defend his choices by claiming he had not factored in their looks for consideration; yet the truth was, he had always felt more comfortable around females than males. Most men acted like he was constantly plotting to netorare (hey, do not judge him for consuming Mundane Japanese manga and anime, one of the few hobbies he still allowed himself to indulge in from time to time, due to his forced and accelerated maturity) their female friends, potential love interests, and family members. He did not consider himself to be too perverse of an individual, yet the visual that scenario just provided him agreed with his recently heightened need for domination something fierce.

He had no need in his life for people whom he could not trust. One needed close bonds, a foundation that would never betray or usurp him, and for him, that was family. He would do his utmost to defend his family. However even family required trust, something that he knew would not be a problem for and from his Sisters and Mother.

However, such close bonds did lead to awkward and confusing emotions. He loved his Sisters and his Mother fiercely, yet sometimes he did not feel as he should towards them. Incestuous thoughts slithered their way into his mind, a serpent of temptation that whispered terrible and wonderful things to him that set his blood on fire. He felt wicked things for his family and it made him angry, angry that he did not have the strength to keep those feelings pure as they should be. He did not subscribe to any religion, a useless but persistent social construct invented by men to keep their weak-minded fellows huddled together. The only forces in the universe he had respect for are Magic/Laws of Universal Mechanics and Death. He was not sure whether the two were merely natural forces or actual cosmic entities, like those he had read about in various Mundane works of fiction. Nevertheless, even he could not fully escape the enforcement effects of the social norms against sibling and parental incest [3h].

"Hey, you okay?" Rose asked with concern in her voice beside him. Hadrian shook himself out of his thoughts, putting a reassuring smile on his face for her sake. By the curious tilt of her head, he supposed that he was not as convincing as he had hoped.

"I'm fine." He answered as casually as possible, reaching up to run a hand through his hair only to feel the short bristles where once a head of messy hair had been. It was an ever present reminder of why he was being treated to freaked-out looks and cruel gossip by those who considered themselves his peers. "Did you have fun teasing poor Sue?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Of course." Rose smirked. "But that is irrelevant. You're lying again." She pointed out. Hadrian felt his cheeks heat up slightly at being caught, even as more lies came to the tip of his tongue. "Stop it. You don't have to lie to me. We share  **everything** , remember?"

"I remember." He nodded, giving her a brief smile. She returned it, a tender look on her pretty face that caused guilt to churn inside of him. She looked so innocent. "Just ask me again sometime later."

"Alright." She accepted, still eyeing him speculatively. The siblings were quiet, walking down one of the many forgotten halls of Hogwarts Castle as they enjoyed doing. "Did you hear about Bella?"

"What did she do this time?" Hadrian wondered, a small smile of amusement tugging on the corners of his mouth. "Wait, let me guess. Cursed Filch again? No, too droll. Bewitched Hagrid's pumpkins to scare the Puffs? Hmm, no, too Weasley-ish. Finally old Snape where to shove his mandrake root?"

"None of the above. Bella's in detention for the next two weeks for assaulting Marietta Edgecombe." Rose giggled a bit mean-spiritedly, having no love for the simpering Ravenclaw or the clique she belonged to. "Shaved her bald and stuck her to the wall of the Charms Corridor for the whole school to see."

"That was her?" Hadrian raised his eyebrows, having seen the sight in question when he was climbing the staircases up to the Ancient Runes classroom. "What did Edgecombe do to piss her off so badly?"

"No idea, but you'd think she would know better. Bella's temper has been short fused ever since, you know, the First Task." Rose said delicately, not sure what to call it. The dragonfire had changed them all and they were still trying to come to terms with what had happened. "Anyway, apparently someone from Gryffindor squealed to McGonagall about the whole thing."

"Three guesses who." Hadrian offered wryly, rolling his eyes. "I swear, Granger is obsessed with getting Bella into trouble. She must be a masochist or something."

"Eww." Rose wrinkled her nose up cutely, having seen that image in her mind's eye. "Okay, let's change the subject from Granger's kinks to, well, anything else. You've heard about the Yule Ball, I presume?"

"I read about it when I was researching the Tournament. As far as I know, they haven't officially announced it yet." He shrugged uncaringly. Hadrian had no interest in such things, he was far too busy devouring every book on dragons that he could get his hands on. Craig the Crispy's book on dragon breeding had been particularly in-depth.

"And?" Rose pressed, watching him carefully. Idly, she re-adjusted her book satchel to her other shoulder.

"'And', what?" He wondered, trying to figure out what his sister was getting at. She sighed heavily, as if disappointed or annoyed by his ignorance.

"And, who are you going to take to the Yule Ball?" Rose asked plainly, figuring that beating around the bush was going to get her nowhere fast. When it comes to subtlety, well, her Beloved Brother simply did not have it or even notice it unless forced to.

"I don't know." He replied, giving her an odd look. "It's still two months away. Besides, if you've noticed, we aren't exactly the most sought after people in school right now."

"Oh come on, Arie. Our hair will be back in less than a month. By that time, we'll still be famous, but they won't be as freaked out by us." Rose stated confidently, a side she only showed a select few. "We'll be exotic to them, I'd wager."

"Maybe." He said doubtfully, not believing it. People feared what they did not understand and three people surviving dragonfire unscathed was quite the mystery. "It's still two months away. Who really cares about some silly dance?"

"Oh, just every girl in the castle." She deadpanned, pausing to inspect the painting of a young Catherine the Great. The gorgeous Czarina in the painting smiled beautifully at Rose, giving her a nod of acknowledgement before returning to her book. "So, no one has caught your eye?" She probed.

"I've been a little busy, Rose." Hadrian answered as an excuse, honestly having not thought about romance among his peers. The girls he thought of before were certainly interesting and pretty enough, but he could not find the proper motivation to seriously contemplate dating any of them for whatever reason.

"Uh huh, not even that Delacour girl?" Rose wheedled, banishing the small amount of dust on the frame of Catherine's painting with a wave of her hand. Wait, hand? That was certainly something to explore in detail later. "She's quite pretty, you know."

"That could be an interesting date, if only to see Bella's reaction." Hadrian chuckled, easily able to imagine that particular meltdown. "Bella's never been sociable, but I haven't seen her hate someone like she does Delacour before. It's pretty intense."

"Maybe they're too much alike." Rose proposed lightly, smirking mischievously at her next thought. "Or maybe Bella likes her. Like 'likes' her."

"Are you kidding me?" Hadrian asked incredulously, giving his younger sister a look that said he was clearly questioning her sanity. "The only interest Bella has in Fleur Delacour is homicide."

"Maybe, but have you ever known Bella to like a boy? Really like one?" Rose questioned pointedly, before glancing over at the portrait and idly debating whisking the painting of her personal heroine away from the forgotten halls to her dormitory [3i]. "Because as far as I know, she's only hated them."

"That's because there are no boys in this castle worth her notice." He replied stiffly, trying to ignore the flash of possessiveness in his gut. As if he would allow one of those walking brain-dead plebeians and mongrels near either of  **his**  sisters.

"All the more reason for Bella to have an interest in the fairer sex." Rose added, observing her brother closely. "Maybe she likes Delacour, but isn't sure how to feel about it, so she falls back on the tried and true method of schoolyard taunts. She isn't exactly the type to show her romantic interest with flowers and chocolates."

"C'mon, Rose, do you really think Bella has the hots for Delacour?" Hadrian questioned doubtfully, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm decently sure Bella is straight."

"Why, because of the games we played as children?" Rose asked bluntly, watching as her brother froze at the mention. "You remember them. Medi-wizard. Sleeping Beauty. Bella never could play that last one right; she kept returning the kiss."

"Rose, that was a long time ago." He murmured defensively, turning to study Catherine of Russia who in turn was watching the conversation with great interest. "We were just kids playing around."

"Before Mum found out, we were always playing." Rose gave a bittersweet smile. "Bella and I always tried to see who could sneak in the most kisses on you. Mum was so mad at us, but we kept playing our games until she threatened to send you to live with Uncle Sirius. That was when the kisses stopped."

"Stop it, Rose." Hadrian warned with a glare, the memories of their old games together brought a feeling of heartsick to his chest. He longed for those simpler times, before they discovered how wrong it all was, before their Mum found out. They were happy then.

"You still miss those days. Back when it was just you, Bella, and I." Rose accused softly, creeping closer to her brother. He refused to back away from her, allowing her to get close. "Did you ever stop wanting us, Brother?"

Hadrian wanted to deny her accusation, but could not find the resolve, nor his own thoughts on the matter earlier. Not wanting to further explore that scandalous train of inquiry in a place with potential ears and eyes however, he instead said nothing.

Undeterred by his silence, Rose moved in closer still, until their bodies were only 10 centimetres (cm) apart. "I know you do, Brother Mine. I can see it in your eyes." She whispered huskily to him, for the intense feelings she had always held towards her Beloved Brother, suppressed for years under duress, had roared back with a vengeance since the aftermath of their bath by dragonfire. She did not know exactly how the two occurrences were connected, only that it was not a coincidence.

Overcome with his own long suppressed desires for his younger Sister, Hadrian forcibly pulled her into his embrace, breathing in harshly, as though desperately trying to imprint her scent into his mind. Despite wanting to feel more than his Sister's sweet form pressed flush against his front, he still had enough sense of mind to not progress any further, at least under the intrigued gaze of Catherine no less.

Rose, pleasantly surprised by his bold move, could only bury her face into the crook of his neck, inhaling his intoxicatingly masculine scent. Oh how she wished she could do more for and to him, though she took consolation in the fact that their relationship as sister and brother just took an irrevocable direction towards something greater and more intimate. Something that she knew was meant to be. Despite her flirty nature, she was no romantic. Yet she knew that the connection and bond she and her siblings shared were not common at all, not that she would have it any other way.

Voicing her next intended line of thought, Hadrian growled hotly into her ear, "You knew damn well what you were trying to provoke in me, you little minx. If we don't stop now…" Hadrian shuddered, hoping and fearing in equal measure for what was left unspoken. With a reluctant sigh, he pulled away from her.

Rose was unrepentant, still gazing at him with a smoldering look [3j]. "Well, Brother Mine, now that we have come out of our denial, let's find Bella. We still need to sit down together and discuss our plans for the dragon eggs" [3k].

Agreeing with her statement on both counts, Hadrian and Rose took each other's hand, just like they frequently used to do, and began to take a walk to process this new development in their relationship. They stopped near a suit of armor, twisting the hilt of the sword clasped in the gauntlets which caused the stone wall to part, revealing a secret passage that would lead them to the outside wall of the Divination Tower.

* * *

🙞🙟 **November 28, 2014, A Secret Passageway Leading to the Hogwarts Grounds**  🙝🙜

The cool, stale air of the passageway was soothing to Hadrian, allowing him to think of his elder sister, Bella. He was not sure whether she had come to a similar conclusion, even though their history together should lead to an affirmative response. Nevertheless, he loved her dearly, and would do nothing to potentially jeopardise one of his closest bonds until both parties were one the same page.

Soon, Hadrian and Rose reached the end of the passage and pressed the round stone at waist height that would open the door to the outside. It opened, causing a cool autumn breeze to caress their faces as they exited onto the springy green grass. They inhaled the fresh air, then turned right with the intention of taking a quick stroll around the field.

Instead, they came face to face with four surprised girls clad in the blue silk dress uniform of the Beauxbatons Academy with several buttons undone, giving him tantalising glimpses of their cleavages. Three were brunettes, all rather attractive in their own way with differing figures that ranged from voluptuous to petite, but all three paled in comparison to the otherworldly Fleur Delacour who stood in the centre.

Rose, who was normally cheerful, had a slight frown on her pretty face. She had just managed to convince her Beloved Brother to no longer repress his desires for Bella and herself, so sue her for not wanting other people to derail this moment dammit! Her reluctance to be rude stayed her tongue, however.

"I didn't mean to startle you, ladies." Hadrian said apologetically, his face still tranquil from the earlier conversation. The girls glanced between one another uncertainly, seeming to communicate without words. He felt a flare of irritation, wanting to finish this stroll so that they could go and find Bella.

"Non, it is fine." Fleur waved off, giving the siblings curious looks, before landing her eyes on their still intertwined hands. ' _Perhaps my earlier shot to his other bitchy sister is not so far off the mark, non?_ ' Her sea blue eyes trailed from their hands, the sister, the striking young man, and finally to the now sealed entrance of the passageway. "Interesting way to get around. Was that a secret passageway?"

"Yes, it was." He confirmed absently, frowning at the French Champion's three friends who kept smirking and whispering to one another. He wondered what they were talking about.

"Are there more of these passages?" Fleur questioned with interest, quieting the girls next to her with a quick glare. He was mildly impressed by her control of them. It was obvious she was the leader of the little clique.

"Hogwarts has many secrets." Hadrian smirked, glancing up at the castle fondly. Despite all the dangers of the past several years, he was very proud of his school. Sure, he was certain that there were other schools with more comprehensive education or elegant architecture, but there was only one Hogwarts.

"And you know these secrets?" Fleur asked, her lovely hair moving in an unseen wind. The French beauty's sea blue eyes seemed to glow mysteriously, drawing him in. She looked so pretty, like one of the Fae straight from a childhood story. Those perfect, pouty, kissable lips slowly formed words, "Tell me of them."

"Only the Founders knew all of the castle's secrets." Hadrian replied as a bolt of lust for the silver blonde struck him. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the sudden inexplicable desire.

By now, Rose was definitely becoming annoyed. Who did this girl think she was, trying to ensnare her Brother like a bad stereotype of her species?! Her senses told her as much that Delacour was a Veela. It mattered none that her Brother was someone of tremendous willpower; what did matter was that she had the audacity to even attempt such a degrading parlour trick on him. Just as she was about to tell the rude French girl to politely fuck off however, her Brother seemed to overcome her Allure.

"But I don't have the time to play tour guide right now. Maybe another day." Hadrian quickly righted himself. "And if you want one, perhaps it's better to approach them honestly than ensnaring one and hoping they'll give out secrets like candy, hmm?" Despite being annoyed by her unsanctioned blast of Allure, he was scolding himself for being caught off guard like that.

A stunned look appeared on Fleur's face, one that Hadrian noted as he tugged an unamused Rose along as they continued on their way.

"Wait!" Fleur called out, making him turn around as she jogged lightly over to him. His gaze was briefly drawn to the wonderful effects jogging had on her pert breasts. Knowing she had to correct her blunder, she offered, "My sincerest apologies to you both, Mr. and Ms. Eveschatten. It was not my intention to cause you undue harm, Mr. Eveschatten."

"And just what makes you think that we won't simply report this attempt to the Ministry, hmm? Knowing the British Ministry's views on so called Dark Creatures, can you afford the penalty?" Rose vindictively snapped.

Although Fleur knew she was in the wrong, her pride would not allow herself to be threatened that way. "Besides the fact a Veela's Allure leaves no trace on the recipient if done infrequently, I have no legal recourse in stopping you filing a charge against me. However, I will swear a Magical Oath of never attempting another Allure broadcast on your family again unless granted permission to do so, if that is what you desire."

While Hadrian did not like it, he felt that Fleur and his own got off on the wrong foot on multiple occasions. Besides, there was still a potential connection to be made with the French competitor. With a quick look to Rose, his sister knew he had something in mind. "Very well Ms. Delacour, we accept your apology. And an oath is not needed."

Before Fleur could fully relax however, Rose added, "Don't mistake our forgiveness for kindness, Ms. Delacour. There will not be a second time offense of this nature. I hope we are clear on that point."

The mild but firm tone she used to deliver that statement definitely helped Fleur to see things their way.

Intending to put the awkwardness behind her, Fleur quickly looked to Hadrian and made a suggestion, "If you're free, perhaps you could give us that tour next Saturday. Say… five in the evening?"

Surprised by Delacour's bold flirting so soon after the meeting, Hadrian mentally weighed the benefits against the drawbacks. On the one hand, she was very beautiful and had quite the devious streak, which would keep things interesting. It was also entirely possible he would be able to learn useful information about her connections, Mgc. French politics, and the Tournament from her or her friends that he could share with his family. On the other hand, there was no doubt that Fleur's offer was to her benefit. Not only would she learn more about the actual layout of the school, she would also try to use him in order to gather information on Neville and Cedric. Well, too bad for her then, because he had no intentions of being a selfless fool [3l]. After her surprise at his resistance to her Allure, he was curious as to which way she would play the game. He had to consider Bella's reaction as well, something that could prove to be very amusing. Hadrian then mentally sent his thoughts on the matter to Rose, letting her know of his decision.

"I think I would enjoy that prospect very much, Ms. Delacour." Hadrian said with a devilish grin, fully intending to milk this opportunity for all it was worth. He gave a brief bow to the ladies a bit behind Fleur, who were whispering among one another again. "I'll see you all on Saturday. Be sure to dress warmly."

Hadrian walked away with Rose without turning back to observe Fleur's reaction. They had a sister to bring into the fold and plans of dragons to discuss after all [3m].

* * *

© Hadrian von Eveschatten, 2019

* * *

**Footnotes**

[3a] In Chapter 2 of DHTH, Ivy/Bella keeps referring to Hermione as 'Muggleborn'. Now Bella is a definite Slytherin, but in my opinion, she is too smart to buy into the 'purity of blood correlating with magic potency' nonsense. Hence, in my story, Bella calls her by 'girl' or 'Granger', not because she has any problem with her background, but simply because Hermione is too worshipful of authority figures, which comes off as brown-nosing to people who are not feeling charitable in their opinions.

[3b] Daphne! Enough said (one can look at both my profile and the number of Haphne stories I followed or/and favourited to realise how big of a fan of the Hadrian × Daphne pairing I am.).

[3c] Yes, the lack of capitalisation on 'father' serves a purpose, and that is Hadrian does not hold James Potter in high esteem as he does with his Sisters and Mother.

[3d] For anyone who happened to have read _Harry Potter the Wolf King_  (WK), by dingo-822, yes, my Hadrian's possessive feelings towards his close female relations are very much like that of his counterpart in WK. Except in ETDC, Hadrian is even more extreme in his possessiveness; he will  **never**  consent to even the mere thought of other men being with his Sisters and Mother for the sake of disguising their incestuous relationship.

[3e] As promised in ETDC's opening Author's Notes, Hadrian's zealotry and hard-on for the primacy of family is toned down compared to DHTH. I made sure that the ' _Live for family; die for family_.' motto is only on firm ground insofar his current familial relations; any change to the current composition may result in a revisiting of said motto.

[3f] Lucretia is a female original character (OC) of my creation. As for her mother, Adrasteia, knowledgeable readers should know I took inspiration from Noodlehammer's _For Love of Magic_ , the first book of their HP duology. Adrasteia is a rather fitting name for the yet to be introduced character, considering the Greek origin (see Nemesis) and meaning ("the inescapable") of the name. As one can see, Adrasteia is someone who knows her history, thus using 'Adrasteia' instead of 'Adrastia' for herself and gave her daughter the original Roman name instead of the Italian version, 'Lucrezia'.

For people who adhere to normal Chinese naming conventions, their Romanticised names are almost always three phonetic sounds long (except for instances of a person having a two phonetic sounds long surname, meaning that their entire name will be four phonetic sounds long). Also, the two characters of one's first name (except when one's first name is only one character) is grouped together, meaning that there is no convention of having a middle name.

As one will notice, Tracey's, Luna's, and Fleur's middle names are not given, because Hadrian has yet to know them well enough. Astoria is a different case, for Hadrian and his sister have definitely interacted with her enough from the scene description.

[3g] Hadrian's musing contains the list of females, besides his family, whom he is on good terms with. Some of them are shortlisted for his eventual expanded collective, though the rest will still be at least friendly to the Eveschattens' causes.

[3h] This is a snapshot of a portion of Hadrian's moral worldview.

[3i] TheLaughingMan1 was not trying to be subtle about Rose's ambitions when he wrote that line, now was he. You will not find an objection from me on this front though.

[3j] I try to convey a direct connection between the awakening of the siblings' Valyrian dragon blood and the reawakening of their desires for one another.

[3k] I almost forgot the cliffhanger of Chapter 2 when I wrote this part, so I quickly inserted a mention of the dragon eggs to provide linkage to the previous chapter. I feel it is more appropriate for the discussion between the siblings to be held in the future, probably in Chapter 4. Lily will definitely be party to the discussion as well, since the siblings plan on raising the dragons on the island that contains Skye Cottage, off of the Isle of Skye.

And speaking of the Isle of Skye, I just discovered that it is in Scotland. DHTH only mentions Skye and an isle off of it, so when I first read the story, I searched for Isle of Skye and indeed found it to be within the U.K. I should have spent a few more minutes back then confirming the location, because I am just learning that there is no Isles of Skye within Wales. For the sake of the story, unless someone can point me towards an island with more of an Welsh connection to use, I will just assume that House Potter owns that island, or maybe the Evans passed it down to Lily.

[3l] Beyond general friendliness, Hadrian will not be wasting his time bothering to keep track of any of the competitor's progress and plans for the TWT.

[3m] Yeah, I know this chapter ends on a cliffhanger again, although a mild one. I plan to include both the sibling attraction conversation and the one regarding dragon eggs in the next chapter, which will be the first chapter in the story that is entirely my work, at different points. It just feels more organic this way.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End Author's Notes
> 
> And here concludes the rewrite of Chapter 2 of DHTH. As you can see, Neville's crippling injury is here to stay. In DHTH, Bella comes off as vicious without restraint. In this story, while Bella can and will still be brutal towards her enemies and other serious offenders, she acknowledges that Edgecombe did not deserve that level of pain and humiliation. This means that she usually modulates her response depending on how severely another party offends or tries to harm her. Daphne is introduced as a natural ally and friend of Bella; it helps that both of them have similar standoffish demeanors. Hadrian and Rose's scene definitely takes a different turn than the one in DHTH, does it not [2j]? And lastly, Fleur's first full interaction with the Eveschattens changes from just Hadrian to both Hadrian and Rose as a result of the different direction the two siblings' talk takes.
> 
> I tried to write the dialogues as naturally as possible. Let me know what you think of them and how they can be improved.
> 
> Well, that concludes my DHTH Chapter 2 rewrite. Please leave your comments, suggestions, and critiques below in the review and comments section. And because this story is still in its infancy, feel free to offer ideas for plot progression.


	4. Ch. 04: Ichorous Education

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes
> 
> Thus begins Chapter 4 of ETDC Book 1: Ascension, the first chapter that is entirely of my own design, unlike the first two chapters, which are modified rewrites of DHTH.
> 
> I gave myself a one month deadline to publish this chapter starting from April 14, 2019, which was when I published Chapter 3; therefore, with my real life commitments and this story being my first serious work of fiction, I am satisfied that I have kept pace with my self-set publishing schedule.
> 
> In the previous chapter, some readers may have picked up on a few nods to the siblings' ease of magic usage. Well, their dragon blood were awakened.
> 
> I now realise that there is no explanation for the mechanics of the Targaryen siblings' reincarnations. This chapter contains no such explanation either, however there is a brief dream sequence teasing of things to come with respect to this subject.
> 
> I refuse to add accents to the speech of non-native English speakers or those for whom English has not reached full verbal proficiency. Since I do not have the talent for doing it well, doing so will only make said speech look grotesquely mangled. Exceptions are those words used deliberately or reflexively, such as "bonjour", "oui", "non", and some other sprinklings of exoticism. They also sounds lovely, when spoken by a beautiful and classy French woman at least.
> 
> For anyone wondering about my footnote format, I am using a modified version of the Chicago/IEEE citation style. As FFN, or any of the other fanfiction hosting websites for that matter, does not offer citation support, and I do not want to labour over painstakingly changing the square bracket notation(s) of existing citation(s) whenever I need to take out or insert a citation, each chapter's citations and footnotes are therefore quarantined from the other chapters'. Thus, for the xth in-text citation appearing in chronological order in Chapter i, the citation and footnote identifier notation is [ix], where the x in the bracket is the lowercase Latin letter corresponding to said chronological location.
> 
> My advice for posting reviews on FFN: make them count. Since FFN only allow one review from a user per chapter, not to mention the review, once posted, can be neither modified nor removed, I suggest that you not waste them on trivial text. For example, if you simply wish to inquire about the status of the next chapter, just PM me. Otherwise, unless it is a substantive review, I will most likely just ignore it.
> 
> Now, onwards with the story.
> 
> Beta readers are also welcome to contribute to this story.
> 
> Publish date: 2019-05-11

 

**Arc 01: Reconfiguration**

**Ch. 04: Ichorous Education**

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**Replies and Answers to Common Questions and Comments Posted before or on 2019-05-11 (Consolidated from FFN, AO3, and HPFFA)**

Yes, the three dragons will be hatched soon, although I am still trying to figure out how to have the Eveschatten triplets regain enough memories in time to name their dragons Balerion, Meraxes, and Vhagar. Or maybe the names can be changed later. Regardless, names of magical beings have power over them; as such, a change in name has real magical implications on identity.

➯  **Guest** ("I believe we will soon see Balerion…"): Balerion will not reach his monstrous size any time soon. I really could not care less about who is the B/GWL. Let the fool keep the dubious honour. No infant, no matter how potent their magic is, is able to physically destroy a powerful sorcerer, and accidentally no less. The prophecy will have no substantial impact on the plot. The only characters who will take it seriously are the usual suspects. Also, I do not know why you keep incorrectly referring to the various characters' names, when they are clearly spelled out as intended in the previous chapters.

➯  **Jorenz** : I understand your concern. However, I think for a lot of fans, the emerald eyes are the most distinctive and most preservation-worthy physical trait of Hadrian. Since the triplets are Valyrians reborn and literally have dragon blood running through their veins, having silver/silver blond(e) hair is almost like a requirement. If it is of any (temporary) consolation to you, their hair colours remain mostly unchanged in this chapter. As for their eyes, if you read the scene carefully, you will see that their irides are now a two-toned emerald-amethyst colour combination. See Footnote [2i] for a slightly more detailed explanation.

➯  **Ath510** : To hedge my bets, the story summary states that only Hadrian's sisters will become his confirmed lovers. However, from the descriptions of the other girls in this chapter, there certainly seems to be a not insignificant probability of other females joining the collective as well. Also, although actions later on will reflect this point, keep in mind that Hadrian is not  **just**  Aegon I in a new and blank body; his experience living as Hadrian for the first 14 years of his life has given him different worldviews and morals as well.

* * *

( _See the opening AN for legalese, detailed story parametres, and text formatting legend._ )

* * *

⇝⇝⇝ **Dream Begins**

Rose did not know where she was, or why she suddenly felt wisps of her hair whipping about her head and her battle robes-like clothing felt compressed against her front. The first inclination she had of this experience not being one rooted in reality was due to the erratic movement of her hair, because her now pixie haircut was not long enough to dance in the wind like that. A few seconds later, her senses sharpened enough for her to realise that she was up in the air, riding a silvery beast whose core body was at least the length of a bus.

She did not know how and why she was where she was, for she realised she was only an observer experiencing the world from the body of someone else. Incantations of a foreign language slipped off of her tongue effortlessly, no doubt due to years of usage and practice, which briefly changed the colour of the stream of scorching flame spat out by the great mount she was riding. Said mount, she now realised, must be a dragon, one that looked and felt much bigger, more majestic, and powerful than the ones she had experienced thus far in her life. The brief change in colour of the dragonfire must had been empowered by her surfed body's spells, for it immediately increased both in ferocity and range, immolating everything that was unfortunate enough to be touched by it.

Still, she could feel her host getting frustrated, because no matter where her dragon left its mark, she could not detect the presence of a single enemy or their warfare-worthy assets. Just as her host was about to direct her mount to turn around and fly back from this, in hindsight, valueless excursion however, her host's enhanced ocular sense detected a bolted weapon of some sort ready to be launched against her, or more likely, the living weapon of mass destruction (WMD) she commanded.

Correctly predicting the flying projectile's aerial path, she directed her dragon, whom she felt connected to via some sort of a mind meld [4a], to avoid the surface-to-air bolt [4a] with the most economical of movements. Realising that whoever fired that weapon had just made themself an outlet for her mounting frustration, she cried to her dragon, ⠟Meraxes⣴ [4b]!

 **Dream Ends** ⇜⇜⇜

* * *

🙥🙤 **Saturday, November 29, 201** **4, The Tower, Hogwarts**  🙦🙧

Rose woke with a startled inhale of breath, unintentionally mirroring her brother's cause of sudden departure from the land of Morpheus earlier this week. Before anything else transpired, she quickly filed the name  _Meraxes_  away in her mind, the other portions of her dream being too fantastical to make heads and tails of at this time. She looked around the room of her and her siblings' private sanctuary in an abandoned Hogwarts tower, fire still crackling merrily in the hearth, then at herself. She was in her usual position whenever the three of them spend some quality time on a couch. With her body curled up next to her Brother and her face leaning on his muscular and warm chest, she reflected on that strange, yet vivid dream. ' _Although the dream may not be that strange, considering all the equally strange occurrences that have transpired since that incident_.' Even though no longer understating the incident as 'The First Task', she was still a bit reluctant to blasély take the whole affair completely in stride, as her Brother had done, who kept referring to the incident as either 'Trial by Fire', or more mockingly, 'Baptism by Fire'. He was not wrong though, for all three of them had gone through enough changes in personalities that many classmates and of the rabble, let alone themselves, had trouble believing that they were the same individuals as before. Bella was too unyielding to do anything other than kept hoping for her hair to grow back faster. As for Mother, she only cared that her children were unharmed; they were her precious children. It was as simple as that.

Tilting her head away from its resting place, she glanced at her Sister. She and her Brother only managed to find Bella in the late evening of yesterday, and by the time they arrived at their cosy sanctuary, they quickly fell asleep, mentally exhausted from all the drama that had occurred that day. Thus, they had yet to have an opportunity to discuss with Bella the intimate moment the two of them had in one of the forgotten halls yesterday. Knowing her Sister, Rose had little doubt that she wanted the same increased level of affection from their Brother. And there was also the issue of the dragon eggs to discuss. The three of them did not know whether the Headmaster had told their Mother yet of Hadrian's plan, yet none of them was willing to move forward with it until the four of them sat down as a family to discuss it.

Glancing her head at the window to see that hazes of deep orange had peaked out from the horizon, Rose began to nudge her siblings awake.

Beside her justified pride in her hair, beauty sleep was one of the few other contributing inputs to physical appearance that Bella indulged in, so the sound that came out of her mouth was not unexpected. "Grrr…"

Hadrian let out a soft grunt, and instead of awakening, he only pulled Rose tighter into his embrace. Not that she was displeased by his action, they still had important matters to discuss. So with a more insistent attempt, the two sleeping siblings finally awoke from their slumbers.

While her Brother tried to smote her with his gaze, an action that was made less effective by his still drowsy eyes, he still pulled her back so that her pert breasts were squashed against his right side. Meanwhile, Bella grumbled, "Why did you wake us up so early in the morning on a Sunday, Rose?"

The accused sister said nothing for a few moments, basking in the wonderful feeling of her and her Beloved Brother's bodies melding together.

Bella, ever observant, bluntly asked, as per her usual modus operandi, "What happened to subtlety, Sis?" She was not jealous at all at her Sister hogging all of their Brother's attention. No sir.

Rose, seeing a perfect segue into the issue at hand, could not help but tease her elder Sister to provoke her desired reaction. "What's wrong, Bella? Is it so improper to show our Beloved Brother some Sisterly affection?"

Bella frowned, feeling as though she was missing some important context.

Hadrian, although in a relaxed mood, wanted to put Bella at ease. He took the palm of his left hand and placed it over the back of her right one, tracing comforting circles over it to let her know that their Younger Sister did not mean anything mean-spirited by it.

Placated by this gesture, Bella said, "Okay, I noticed you two giving me looks yesterday after meeting up with me. So out with it already."

Leading the charge, so to speak, Rose asked, "Have you noticed any significant changes in yourself since our encounter with the dragon?"

"You mean besides the loss of my luscious and envy-inducing mane?"

Not bothering to dignify her flippant remark, Rose maintained to look at her sister expectantly.

Now beginning to sense how serious this matter must be, Bella fidgeted slightly. "Well… I've noticed that my magick seemed to have become more potent and instinctual to wield than ever before. And, …" She glanced at her still observing Brother, "um…" She quickly avoided his amused gaze, nipping her lower lip.

Bella had never displayed such uncertainty before, and Hadrian decided right there and then that his Sweet Sister's new bashful look was very cute and endearing. Moving his left arm, he cupped her chin and gently turned her head around to face him. Finally inserting himself into the discussion, he said, "Bella, Rose and I won't judge you, not without the entire context at least. In fact, Rose and I already had a conversation similar to this nature yesterday." Deciding that a show-not-tell approach would be the most effective, he turned his head the other way to face Rose, and proceeded to do something that would irrevocably alter the triplets' relationship, which until this point, was still mostly platonic, despite the stretched definition in their case.

Rose, seeing her Brother's sudden lustful gaze, knew exactly what he wanted from her. So, as to both oblige him and indulge in her own desires, she saucily bit her lower lip, giving him permission to proceed.

Bella could only gape and stare, as her Brother manhandled their Little Sister with his masculine arms and hands so that she was now sitting sideways in his lap. They wasted no time sealing their mouths together, kissing fiercely right in front of her, appearing as if they had only indulged in their last house role-play session yesterday. Speaking of which, this lustful exchange of tongues and saliva brought up the long suppressed memories and feelings of the three of them playing house together as children, a period of time when she and Rose were always trying to one-up the other in getting in the most kisses on their Brother. It had all started innocently enough, however that quickly changed once Rose found one of Mum's Harlequin-esque romance novels. Their young minds back then could not yet fully comprehend the implications of their actions, yet compared to other siblings, it was not difficult for their bright minds to form the conclusion that their behaviour was not the norm. Nevertheless, they were happy and not bothering anyone else, so why should they have cared?

Not breaking her stride, Rose swung her left leg around so that her ended up straddling Hadrian's right upper leg, heatedly engaging in their activity all the while. Rose fervently ran her hands through Hadrian's short hair, while he cupped her sumptuous lower cheeks in a feverish attempt to meld the fronts of their bodies together. After a few more blissful moments, the two finally disengaged from their mutual oral exploration, a thin trail of saliva appearing and connecting their mouths, like a strand of gossamer weighted by fresh morning dew.

Throughout her siblings' utterly non-platonic display of familial affection, Bella was initially shocked. Quickly getting over it, she started squirming in place, desperately wishing it was she who was in Rose's spot. After the two had pulled away from each other, she, non too eloquently, blurted out the first thing on her mind. "What was that?!"

Two heads eerily turned towards her direction with identical smirks. Thankfully, Rose spoke for the two of them, unknowingly sparing her Sister of a bout of synchronised twin-speak, a practice that was much ruined by the obnoxious Weasley twins [4c]. "Well, dear Sister, it would appear that recent changes had induced a resurgence of our incestuous desires. What says you?"

Bella in fact did not say anything, masking her face into an unreadable expression.

All of a sudden, she pounced on her Brother, earning a surprised squawk from Rose.

"Hey, be civil, Bella!" Recovering as dignified as she could manage, Rose mock-chastised her Sister.

Hadrian did not even get a chance to be surprised before his Elder Sister's lips were on his. "My pride is on the line, Rose." Bella's lips broke apart from her Brother's as her eyes mock-glared accusingly at her Sister. "It's clear that you have gotten closer to Arie than me since our dance by fire." With a glint in her exotic eyes, she firmly stated, "Well, that just won't do."

Getting herself more comfortable, Bella's position now mirrored that of her Sister's, sitting on her Brother's left thigh in contrast to Rose. True to her bold nature, Bella began to slowly grind her core against his thigh, drawing an appreciative grunt from her Brother, who had not spoken a word since her surprise assault on his oral cavity.

Rose sent a pout in her Sister's direction, aiming to keep up in this glorious Sisterly battle for their Brother's affection.

Soon enough, the three siblings descended into a pile of writhing mass of torsos and limbs. Hadrian was greedily roaming his hands across both of his Sisters' svelty bodies, which provided him with an abundance of delectable flesh to play with. From their toned butt cheeks to their juicy breasts, every part of their bodies that could be reached were greedily consumed by his hands. Bella and Rose did not remain idle either, grinding their increasingly damp cores against their Brother's thighs. Their right and left hand, respectively, were working in tandem to caress the now solid erection straining against the fabric of his khaki trousers.

Before the incestuous debauchery could progress, or descend, any further, three stomachs chose that moment to make their displeasure known. At that moment, Hadrian's hands were squeezing Bella's sizeable breast underneath her layers of clothing and pressing the tip of his index finger against Rose's damp rosebud underneath her knickers, while the Sisters had their hands underneath his Oxford shirt too, feeling up the chiselled contours of his heated torso, pinching his nipples, and tortuously scratching his skin. Hadrian's face was buried into the crook of Rose's neck, greedily sucking on a point right above her right collarbone, no doubt leaving a mark for the world to see, right after he did the same to Bella. The Eldest Sister returned the favour to her Brother's earlier action, eagerly staking her physical claim on him as well.

Reluctantly ceasing their fun, the siblings' faces broke apart from each other, each sporting a grin that ranged from goofy to smug. As the triplets cuddled in the afterglow of the delightful perversion of their familial bond, Hadrian called for a school House Elf by the name of Mipsey and requested her to bring them some light snacks. In the meantime, with Hadrian possessively hugging his Sisters close to his body and the sides of their faces pressed against his chest, he intoned to them, "I hope you know that today is just a precursor of things to come. Satisfaction will not be achieved until I make both of you  **mine**."

Rose and Bella shuddered pleasurably at their Brother's bold declaration of intent, feeling his rumbling voice vibrating outward from his powerful chest.

Taking their lustful mewling as eager acquiescence to his tyrannical claim, he continued, "I still don't know exactly what the dragonfire did to change our bodies and what I suspect to be our instinctual desires, yet I fully intend to explore these new possibilities on  **all**  fronts to their  **fullest** extents." He smirked as he felt his Sisters silently squirming against him, rubbing their heated and now damp cores needily against his muscular thighs [4d].

Hadrian shifted his torso back and pushed his Sisters back so that he could gaze properly at the two beauties in his embrace. Pausing briefly to gather his thoughts on the other main topic on his mind, he said, "Rose and I were looking for you yesterday, Bella. Seeing as how we never got the chance to properly discuss my admittedly on-the-spot decision to take in the dragon eggs, we want to receive your input as well."

Mipsey popped back at that moment with their requested nourishment, before popping away with a happy squeak after a round of quick 'thank you's from the triplets.

Taking advantage of the time spent eating, Bella spent the next few minutes formulating a proper response. "When you first told us about your intent back in the infirmary, Arie, both Rose…" Bella looked at Rose, who gave a nod in agreement, "…and I were still too stunned from the events of the First Task to adequately process the proposal beyond acknowledging we were to have three dragon eggs come into our possession." Taking a breath, she sustained, "Now that I've had a few days to think about it, the idea seems risky, yet the advantages that can be gained if we're successful are too valuable to ignore."

"So it seems that all three of us are in agreement then." Rose concluded, she herself obviously an affirming party to this proposal. "However, we need to discuss this matter with Mother as well, not to mention all the extra protections, such as warding schemes, we will need to set up to make Skye Cottage and the surrounding lands secure-worthy for raising a 5X-ranked magical creature."

"I wouldn't dream of not gaining Mother's approval on this matter first Rose; incurring her wraith may be more suicidal than going up against an actual dragon." Hadrian solemnly stated.

The triplets chuckled at that statement. Unknown to each other, they all thought of their Mother chewing out their father for the various imbecilic actions he committed to the detriments of their health and wealth.

After finishing their snacks, they prepared for another session of their educations in combat, strategies and tactics, and statecraft. They knew just which field of study they should pursue today to work off the build-up of their lustful energy.

Getting up from the couch, they opened up a small closet that contained multiple sets of their workout clothes. While the siblings had never been prudish, recent events had allowed them to develop increased appreciations of each other's bodies, which was evident to see as they stripped down to their underwear. Hadrian's chiseled form was on display, only covered by a pair of snug crimson trunks that outlined an impressive bulge. Bella was splendidly toned, her taut form enhancing her inherent femininity. Despite making generous allowances for the topmost obsession of her vanity, her luscious mane, Bella was a practical girl, which was reflected in her choice of a pair of emerald micro boyshorts. Rose was not as fanatical about physical conditioning as her elder siblings. Nonetheless, endless hours of practice over the years had given her a svelte body that was hard to match by other girls in her age bracket. Not too surprising considering her flirtatious nature, she had a matching pair of navy blue lacy thong panties and bra on [4e].

Wanting to keep his wits about himself through the upcoming session, which he would not be able to achieve if he saw Sisters nude, he hastily drew up some privacy sheets with a wave of his hand. Regardless of the normality of the procedure, Rose and Bella pounced on the chance to further tease their Dear Brother, invoking a verbal promise to smote their tight bodies that drew pleased laughter from them. After they finished changing into their attires, which consisted of trainers, snug sweatpants, a compression T-shirt for Hadrian, and sport bras for the sisters, the siblings opened a cabinet that contained many manners of weapons. From daggers to bastard swords to modern pistols, most people would be either horrified or fascinated by an armoury that could be used to take on a company or small battalion in experienced hands [4a]. Suffice to say, their Mother's doctrine of maintaining proficiencies in multiple forms of martial arts [4f] had left lasting positive impressions on her children. Taking out two bastard swords and a longsword on account for Rose's shorter stature, the triplets proceeded to exercise away their fresh intakes of energy.

* * *

🙞🙟 **November 29, 2014, The Great Hall, Hogwarts**  🙝🙜

Around noon, the siblings, still in their workout clothes, though with snug hoodies on as well, entered into the Great Hall, more relaxed than they had been since the incident. Their change in behaviour was glaringly obvious to anyone who paid attention. Since the siblings almost always moved as a unit whenever and wherever the three of them were together, it did not surprise anyone who had interacted with them more than once, nor was it an uncommon occurrence to see them holding hands. For the students from the visiting Schools though, it was a highly unusual sight for siblings to engage in a physical gesture of affection that was usually associated with romantic partners or between a parent and a small child. The siblings thought better about greeting their Mother, who sat at the High Table, when they saw her chatting with Professor Flitwick, probably having one of their usual academic debates in Charms [4g] or other esoteric subject matters.

Seeing them all sat down together at the Slytherin Table, Fleur's interest in the young man, who was supposed to show her and her companions around the Hogwarts castle next Saturday, piqued even more, since no other Hogwarts student was sitting at a table that was not associated with their School House. She sat at the Ravenclaw Table between Cho and Padma, two bright students whom she had taken a liking too, although them acting as a buffer for her to keep the troll-like behaving males away was also a nice bonus. The French competitor [4h] asked the two of them, "Why are they not sitting according to their own Houses? Is it not…" Despite her dim view of such a tradition, which inevitably led to increased self-imposed segregation and stereotypes among the school populace, she had no standing to make such a critique without cause. "…a rule for Hogwarts students to abide by?"

Cho was not in Ravenclaw just for her book smarts. She also generally kept a cool head on her shoulders, which was why, despite Marietta being her friend, she did not get overly upset on her behalf, knowing just how dangerous a provoked Belladonna Eveschatten was. She was the first one to answer. "It would appear that way, but not really. Except for important events such as the Welcoming Feast, where seating by Houses is pretty heavily enforced, the professors don't have any administrative standing to do so during the rest of the academic year."

"Although, as you can see,  **almost**  all students here conform to social expectations for one reason or another, especially for Slytherin and Gryffindor, where each House's students will, through a status quo achieved through decades', or perhaps even centuries', worth of social and schoolyard political calcification, not associate with the members of the other House, at least openly." Padma picked up.

"Then considering peer pressure to be such a big factor, those three certainly don't appear to be suffering any noticeable detriments from opposing the norm." Fleur led on, wanting to confirm something on her mind.

With a strange chuckle, Padma answered her, "Ah, do see for yourself, but the Eveschatten triplets are not ones to meekly obey institutions or norms without cause. You see how Malfoy and his clique are glaring at them?" She pointed out to Fleur, who hummed in acknowledgement. "Well, back in our First Year—Cho's Second—Malfoy and co. wanted to 'impress' upon Bella the importance of not publicly associating with outsiders, especially Gryffindors."

"Then what happened?" Fleur asked, although she could make a fairly educated guess, seeing the impotent glower of this Malfoy, who had a wretchedly obvious self-important air about him.

Padma smirked. "Well, Ms. Eveschatten obviously took exception to his impudence. The day after, Malfoy was found in the Great Hall first thing in the morning, bound and passed out." It was always a delight to revel in that pompous brat's humiliation. "It took several more of these demonstrations for this lesson to fully sink in, with each iteration more humiliating than the last. The last demonstration left him stripped and bound, decorated with a  **creative**  assortment of a feather duster, whipped cream, and some girls' unmentionables."

Fleur mimicked a gagging motion at that disturbing image, and even Padma grimaced at the memory. Cho was not much better, shuddering despite herself.

"As you can imagine, Malfoy's parents grew increasingly livid with each assault. No one knew or could prove the identity or identities of the culprit(s), though the smug smirks on the triplets' faces after each demonstration certainly did not leave many doubters." Padma finished her tale.

Cho continued the rendition of the Eveschatten siblings' acts of infamy. "A less mentally scarring event happened in Hadrian's House later that Year. Although it's a pretty well-known accepted truth now, I only heard from several of my Gryffindor friends back then that he invited his sisters into the Gryffindor Common Room. Gryffindors did not like outsiders coming into that space in the first place, and with Bella being in Slytherin, the reactions were even worse. I didn't know exactly what happened; suffice to say, the Gryffindors have not seriously spoken out against her to this day."

Fleur turned her body to look at the siblings conversing with several Slytherins at their table, noticeable among them was an imperious-looking blonde. To the immediate right of her was a younger brunette who looked almost exactly like her, most likely her little sister then. Eveschatten [4i] sat on the presumed sister's right side, talking with the icy blonde. Eveschatten had her right hand intertwined with her brother's left one, idly tracing circles on the back side. Hadrian sat between his sisters, entertaining the brunette sister with some presumed tale, making her giggle. Rosaline [4i] had her left arm wrapped around his right upper arm, talking with the two people to her right. ' _Either the Eveschatten triplets are simply more publicly affectionate than the average Briton, or Eveschatten is not the only frere amant in the family._ ' Fleur thought slightly bemused. On the other side of the siblings were an olive-skinned ravenette who was sultry in mannerisms, as well as a strawberry blonde who appeared to be amused by something spoken by Rose, although appearing trying to not draw too much attention to herself. ' _Well, sitting with the dominant topic of Hogwarts and Mgc. British societal gossip of the past few days is not helping you there._ ' Fleur thought wryly.

As interesting as they were, the French competitor still wanted to gather as much information about them as possible, and that included their circle of connections. "They certainly seem unaffected by all the staring. So who are the blonde and ravenette they're talking to?"

Not seeing any harm with sharing a bit of public information, Padma recited from memory, "The blonde is Daphne Greengrass, one of the few people whom Bella associates in her House. Not much is known about her family, except that they're moderately wealthy from their potions supplies business, and Lady Greengrass is one of the leaders in the Neutral faction. While I don't think that their Houses are in a formal alliance of sorts, she and the triplets certainly are on friendly enough terms."

"The ravenette is Lucretia Zabini. She and Rose get along surprisingly well. She is also the daughter of the infamous Black Widow of Europe, Adrasteia Zabini." Cho supplied. Before she could say anything more, Fleur interrupted her.

"Say no more, Cho. Ms. Zabini may be mostly based in Mgc. Britain now, but her exploits were, and still are, infamous across the continent." Privately, Fleur thought, ' _Hmm, the siblings' choices of associates are certainly neither dull nor full of supporters of the so-called "Light" faction. Interesting as these information are,_ _I may do some of my own digging later on._ '

The biggest question though, still had yet to be answered adequately, even by the so-called "experts". "'ave you heard anything concrete about their changes in appearance?" Fleur asked her acquaintances.

"You mean besides the usual bull and tripe the media, 'experts', and others have come up with?" Cho snorted indelicately. "Smart as I am, I'm not arrogant enough to propose an outlandish theory for a literally unprecedented event in magical history."

At the mention of the hot new topic until the lemmings found another one to latch onto, the people near them who could still pick up on their conversation refocused their attentions, though trying to appear inconspicuous in doing so. Several seats away from Cho, Marietta Edgecombe, still sporting her edgy new hairstyle fashioned during duress, scowled as she listened, stabbing her food with more force than necessary.

The three did not bother to ward the space around them from prying ears, for they were not discussing anything that required secrecy.

"While I too don't claim to possess anything near to expert knowledge on this issue," Padma glanced at her friend, "the only explanations that would make sense to me are a mutation in physiology or magic that allowed them to survive a direct blast of dragonfire." She finished, using a Mundane scientific jargon she picked up from Rose some while ago.

"Mutation?" Fleur and Cho asked simultaneously. Although they were more knowledgeable regarding the Mundane World compared to other influential Magical families, that was not saying much, considering how low the bar was set.

Padma answered, "Mutations are what Mundane scientists, biologists to be exact, refer to the changes in a living organism's genetic sequence, a code that is unique to each living organism in the biota. Essentially, it's each living organism's genetic material that determines their or its physical structure, barring external factors." Upon seeing looks of surprise on the two girls faces, Padma blushed a little bit, reminded of her own ignorance on the subject, before adding, "I didn't know what a mutation was either before Rose explained it to me and handed me an introductory biology textbook."

Seeing Fleur's and Cho's blank stares, Padma elaborated, "Rose mentioned that her mother, Professor Eveschatten, made sure that she and her siblings kept up with their Mundane education as well." After a few seconds of thinking, she added, "Frankly, even after learning just about biological mutations, I think that Muggle Studies will prove to be an outdated and useless subject."

Observing the slightly doubtful looks on their faces, Padma offered, "It may hard be to believe, however you'll be amazed at how far the Mundanes have come over the past few centuries. I can ask Rose to lend you the appropriate materials." Then she smirked, "Or, maybe you can just get a Mundane library membership card."

Both girls, who were quite curious individuals in their own rights, were quite interested by Padma's proposal and expressed them as such. Moving away from that tangent, Fleur then provided her own thoughts on the Eveschatten siblings' physical alterations. "My thoughts on the matter are similar to yours, Padma, though I didn't know that mutations, as the Mundanes call them, could be the cause of their changes."

Adding her own few Knuts on the matter, Cho said, "Regardless of the underlying cause or causes, the triplets have always given off peculiar vibes. This may be an ad hoc justification on my part, though I think you would agree with me on this point too, Pad."

Looking a little sheepish, Padma confirmed, "Well, don't take this the wrong way, but yes, Rose, Hadrian, and Bella have always had mysterious airs about them. I swear that had I not met them in person, I would have thought that their eye colour to be unnatural." She paused, before adding, "Hmm, their new eye designs are only going to increase the amount of colourful rumours. Like Cho said though, trust the 'esteemed' Daily Prophet to continue publishing the ravings of ignorami." She scowled.

Despite not knowing the Eveschatten siblings well, Fleur did not wish the reputations of those who had not done her person any injury to be tarnished by unfounded speculations. Yes, even that bitch Belladonna did not deserve such.

Mere moments after Fleur returned to observing her persons of interest, since she did not have anything to add beyond her own similar hypothesis, she saw that the siblings had finished having lunch with their companions. This would not have otherwise interested her, except that they were walking towards the section of the table that sat her, instead of walking out of the Great Hall. All three siblings' hair were inexplicably longer than they would naturally be otherwise after growing anew in only several days' worth of time, and all three now had a thick, similar shaded silvery stripe in the front as well.

As the triplets progressed in their gait, they visually took in the various people who were trying to discreetly, and failing, to observe them like fascinating specimens to dissect. They could not care less about what others thought of them, so they decided to embrace their new changes in stride. Rose had her cheery mask on as usual, her hair now in an extreme boyish pixie cut. Bella had an imperious air about her par for the course, rocking an extreme undercut with the top swept to the right side of her head. Hadrian walked with his casual confidence, displaying an utilitarian cropped undercut, not unlike some modern soldiers.

As they approached, Fleur was momentarily surprised when Eveschatten stopped several steps in front of Cho's friend, Marietta. Fleur heard about what happened to her of course, although her empathy for the girl was limited, seeing how obvious and off-putting her snobbish personality was.

Bella clearly did not want to be here, yet something her Brother whispered in her ear had her scowling playfully, smacking his arm ineffectually, and shooting him a blushed look. ' _T_ _his action feels much less like an obligation now, after factoring in Arie's **reward** , ufufufu._' Schooling her features, she spoke to Marietta firmly and clearly, "Ms. Edgecombe, my assault upon your person yesterday is an action unbecoming of my character. Therefore, I hereby formally apologise to you, as well as offer a form of compensation within reason." Her voice easily penetrated the sudden silence of the Great Hall, the inhabitants within eager to lap up any potential gossip material or drama concerning the Eveschatten triplets.

Upon hearing this statement, the reactions from various individuals within the hall were mixed.

Cho was more relieved than anything else; she got along well with the siblings and might be harbouring a crush on the sisters' handsome and brother who was slightly younger than her. Factoring in how annoying Marietta could be at times with the opinions she parroted from her mother, a brown-nosing Ministry middle management type, it was little wonder then that Cho was glad Marietta would no longer have a proper excuse to bitch about Bella.

Fleur, as the daughter of a prominent politician and a member of a species that was predisposed to heightened emotional perceptions of others, had learned to read people and analyse their motivations early on, skills that were especially valuable to her as a young Veela until several years ago, when her body growth was still deliberately stunted by her innate Veela heritage. Thus, her respect for Eveschatten had just risen several levels. Grudgingly, if only to herself, Fleur admitted that the two of them had similar, that was to say proud, personalities. An apology this public therefore was not simply done out of the goodness of her heart. Not only was this public maneuver politically savvy, for it communicated her willingness to take responsibility for an action she thought to be unworthy of her character, as well as blunted any form of public retaliation Marietta and her family might take, it would also nudge the sheep-minded public to jump onto this piece of gossip, instead of focusing on the siblings' new physical changes. Now granted, she did not think that the latter benefit would last long, yet this reprieve would still give her family precious time to craft an appropriate public statement.

Lily was proud of her daughter. When she heard the news from Severus in the Faculty Lounge, she felt disappointed in her. Bella had always been the most outwardly passionate of her three children, yet she had taught them the value of maintaining proper emotional control at all times, or at least in public, a lesson learned from her own bouts of youthful brashness. Thankfully, her lover took her in hand and corrected this shortcoming of hers [4j]. She was a firm believer in not apologising for any action, as long as one can honestly justify their cause to themself; therefore, she felt that her daughter's impudence grossly outweighed any verbal slight Ms. Edgecombe slang her way. ' _Your brother can't be there every time you need to be brought to heel, my sweet._ ' Lily thought amusedly.

The triplets' Slytherin friends were generally approving, seeing Bella's action for what it really was. The preadolescent Astoria though, glared at Marietta with cutely puffed cheeks, irritated at her for badmouthing her surrogate big sister's beautiful hair.

Of the three siblings, Susan was the closest to Hadrian and Rose; Bella, at her base state, could be an intimidating person. That was not to say that she had ever unleashed her menacing aura on her own person deliberately however. As the niece of the Head of the DMLE and the sole heiress of House Bones, Susan knew that a lot of people, many of them unscrupulous, were going to make overtures towards her once she took up the Bones headship. As such, she needed powerful and interest-aligned allies by her side. Despite giving an unassuming appearance, Susan had a real knack for evaluating people, which was why she was quick to make friends with the Eveschatten siblings. Hadrian being easy on the eyes was a motivating factor too. Although Susan was not guileless enough to take Bella's public apology at face value, it was enough to nudge her into seriously considering getting to know her better.

Dumbledore was of a similar mind when he heard the news and was proud of Ms. Eveschatten for taking responsibility for her action. Ms. Eveschatten was a fierce, but tempered, young woman, so very like her namesake several decades ago. Digressing from that painful memory, he focused on the present. Ms. Edgecombe either must had really set Ms. Eveschatten off, or the more obvious and likely scenario, corroborated by witnesses, was Ms. Edgecombe's very unwise insult of Ms. Eveschatten's previously gorgeous mane, not that it excused the latter's behaviour. His colourful—those with no eye for fashion would say loud—tastes in robes aside, he did not consider himself to be a vain individual, yet even he knew that most women were very proud, maybe even irrationally so, of their hair. Some battles were just not worth fighting.

Snape was not one to willingly apologise for anything or to anyone, save for one particular individual. And as much as he disagreed with one of his favourite pupil's action, he was shrewdly cognisant of her rationales for doing so.

Draco, too short-sighted to see the objectives Bella had set out to accomplish through this maneuver, was plotting to use this incident to bring the bitch down several pegs.

As for Marietta herself, Belladonna Eveschatten was someone she feared and was jealous of in equal measures. She was someone whom she herself aspired to be, yet constantly fell short of. Eveschatten had the looks, power, and disposition to back up her alpha female status without even trying that hard, yet she herself had to constantly invoke her mother's conceited authority at the Ministry to integrate herself into the more popular Cho's group. What could she do but accept her apology with grace then? She was nowhere powerful enough to openly challenge Eveschatten, and she just knew that bitch would humiliate her, only much more discreetly, if she further antagonised her.

"Very well, I accept your apology, Ms. Eveschatten. No compensation is needed. I, too, apologise for my verbal provocation." Marietta managed to say neutrally, feeling as though she was the one trying to save face instead of the one being apologised to.

"Thank you for your understanding, Ms. Edgecombe. Have a good day." Bella said with equal enthusiasm. She turned around to leave the Great Hall without further ado.

Throughout this short and awkward exchange, Hadrian and Rose stood close to their sister, giving her silent support, although his smirk and her silent giggle undermined their united front somewhat. Before Bella could depart however, Hadrian gently, yet firmly, took her hand, giving her pause and a mental message, causing her to briefly roll her eyes and huff. Nonetheless, she dutifully stood by her Brother and more, along with Rose, whom he had already informed.

Hadrian, along with his two sisters, moved to stand in front of Fleur.

Having initially expected this development when the siblings first walked to the Ravenclaw Table, Fleur merely raised a well-manicured eyebrow. "Bonjour, Hadrian, Rosaline, and Belladonna. Is there something that you need?" She deliberately addressed them by their first names, thus insinuating that she was on enough familiar terms with the triplets to address them as such. Well, she was stretching the truth by a fair margin. Not to mention, she had no desire to broadcast the disinclination between her and Belladonna that would hopefully simmer down [4i].

Hadrian smiled charmingly at her. "We're merely passing by on our way out of the Great Hall, Mlle. Delacour. I simply want to remind you…" He looked over at her clique, giving them a wink, "…and your friends of your upcoming appointment." He kept his wording vague enough so that no one, beside the tourists-to-be and his sisters, could make sense of it.

Amused by his deliberate ambiguity and mentally tipping her hat at his presumed admonishment of her presumptuous addressment, Fleur said in her musical voice, "Seeing as we already know each other, there is no need for such formalities, non? Please call me Fleur." She then held out her arm.

It was Hadrian's turn to raise an eyebrow. Refusing to play the game on her terms, he simply waited.

Adopting a slightly abashed, yet nonetheless pleased look, Fleur rose up, still offering Hadrian her hand.

Bending slightly at his waist and neck, Hadrian took her hand in both of his and gently brushed his lips over her middle knuckle, behaving every inch a proper gentleman. This transaction, of course, only served to fuel speculations about their relationship and his unaffected behaviour around a Veela. Who could know whether this was an orchestrated event?

Hadrian looked at her with a roguish smirk, then jerked his head minutely towards his two sisters. Understanding his gesture, Fleur nodded. "I'm pleased to formally make your acquaintance then, Fleur. And you have already met my lovely sisters, Bella and Rose, of course." Hadrian said amusedly.

Rose smiled mischievously at Fleur, while Bella merely nodded, a bit stiffly at that, a gesture that Fleur returned with an enigmatic smile of her own.

Fleur sustained, "And yes, Hadrian, my friends and I 'ave no intention of canceling it. I certainly am looking forward to it." She finished with a sly smile on her rosy lips.

Hadrian gave Fleur and her friends some final nods of acknowledgement, before turning to his and his sisters' two friends beside her.

"Cho and Padma, we'll see you later." Rose and her siblings greeted them, before walking away together.

As they were walking, Hadrian glanced at Luna, who was sitting some seats down the Ravenclaw Table, observing the spectacle like everyone else. He still remembered his self-made promise to look out for her, although he did not think a sudden and public approach would do her any favours.

Reactions were once again mixed.

Daphne and Lucretia thinned their delectable lips minutely.

Cho, Padma, and Susan had slight frowns on their pretty faces.

Parvati was chatting animatedly with Lavender, trying to make sense of these multiple unexpected events that occurred within the past 10 minutes.

Lily hid an amused smirk behind her raised glass of sauvignon blanc while chewing on her roasted sea bass with thyme, mentally cataloguing the reactions of her Darling Son's female friends.

Ron scowled, his face turning crimson with impotent jealousy. "Another bird? And a Veela?! Doesn't that jerk already have enough fit birds around him?" He muttered angrily, before shoving a disturbingly huge amount of food into his oral orifice at once. He had lusted after Hadrian's female friends since the last School Year. Rather insultingly, none of them would appreciate his greatness. Letting out an ugly belch and unaware of the general disgust of those having the misfortune of sitting near him, his lecherous thoughts turned to the Eveschatten sisters. Rosaline looked like the younger sister of her mother, who was definitely one fit cougar [4k]. He quickly shut down that line of thought, shuddering as he remembered the death glare Professor Eveschatten gave him when she noticed his attention on her person. Even Belladonna, despite being a Slytherin, was gorgeous. Once again though, his thoughts were derailed as he remembered the not too subtle threat her berk of a brother delivered to him after cornering him in an abandoned hallway.

As the triplets walked towards the exit of the Great Hall, Bella looked their mother's way, mentally conveying a message. Expecting this matter to arise sooner or later, Lily gave a minute nod towards her children.

* * *

🙥🙤 **November 29, 201** **4, Professor Eveschatten's Office, Hogwarts (Scene 4c)**  🙦🙧

An hour or so later, the triplets were in front of the door of their mother's school office.

"Come in." Lily said after hearing a knock on her door.

Opening the lock, Hadrian let himself and his sisters into her office.

"Hi mum!" Rose exclaimed happily, giving her a hug while doing so, which Lily returned with reciprocal sentiment.

The triplets proceeded to sit comfortably on the tasteful antique couch, which was able to be accommodated in Lily's office thanks to some judicious application of space expansion charms. The triplets sitting closely together was not an uncommon occurrence, yet Lily's keen eyes picked up on some subtle changes in their body languages. While this was an interesting development, they had another matter to deal with first.

Cutting straight to the issue, Lily focused her imperious gaze on her son. Elegantly crossing her legs and folding her arms, she bluntly stated, "The Headmaster told me about your intention for the dragon eggs, Hadrian. I hope you don't mind explaining to me why I should indulge in your request."

With the developments of the most recent two days, his Mother's stern female authoritarian impression was bringing up certain interesting thoughts in Hadrian's mind. Mentally shaking away the thoughts that were no longer too perverse, he focused his mind on convincing her of his admittedly not too well thought out plan and rationale. Her usage of his forename was a succinct prompter of his need to quickly deliver a convincing sales pitch, so to speak.

Deciding to lead from a position of humility, Hadrian said, "Mother, I acknowledge what I asked of the Headmaster was a spontaneous act. However, I saw three dragon eggs that were just waiting to be exploited by unscrupulous individuals, such as Snape. It would be both morally wrong and a waste of potentially three magnificent dragons to ignore this opportunity."

Lily knew Snape better than anyone, save for a few other individuals. After all, one tended to know the measure of someone after facing them on the battlefield, repeatedly in their case. Because she herself told her children of Snape's history before and during the last civil war, before they set foot on Hogwarts, Lily could not fault their negative views towards the man. Furthermore, unbeknownst to her, Snape had further incurred Hadrian's displeasure by lusting after her, which was an affront to both his sense of familial protectiveness and his recently heightened predatory instinct of displaying hostile intent towards those trying to encroach on  **his**  territory.

Coming out of her tangential thought, Lily replied, "I don't disagree with you on that front, Arie. These dragon eggs, and potential future hatchlings, deserve protection. Even so, there're numerous institutions which are qualified, not to mention would be thrilled, to take care of them. What do you think our family will be able to do to help these yet to be born creatures, hmm?"

After the debacle of the First Task, the particular Romanian dragon reserve, which previously held the escaped Hungarian Horntail, decided to wash its hands of any direct assets related to the dragon in an effort to escape any further negative publicity, which meant that it wanted the dragon eggs to be destroyed. Luckily for Hadrian, Dumbledore's powerful political pull in his triumvirate capacities as the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards (I.C.W.), Chief Warlock of the British Wizengamot, and Headmaster of Hogwarts was more than enough to secure a DBL for him. Still, Hadrian knew that convincing his Mother would be a Herculean task compared to leveraging Dumbledore's affable nature and fondness for the Eveschatten family, for Lily dealt not in sentimentality or emotional blubbering, just cold reasoning. Of course, while some allowances were made for the siblings on account of them being her children, familial affection could not be used as a major criteria for objective decision-making.

Seeing an appropriate opening, Hadrian made a gesture to his sisters. The siblings proceeded to take off their individual small duffel bag from their shoulders. Opening the duffel bags, they took out the three dragon eggs that they brought with them and lined them up in a row on the coffee table in front of the couch. The two eggs at the ends were the size of an ostrich egg, approximately 15 cm in length and 13 cm in diametre, with a colour composition of red and brown, as well as a scale-like texture. The egg in the centre however, was approximately 25% bigger in volume with respect to the other two eggs. If not for its smooth shine, one would be forgiven for assuming it to be a miniature black hole, given its dark as the void like colour, or lack of.

Hadrian gestured to the eggs. "The egg in the middle is clearly different from the other two in terms of size, texture, and colour, no?" He asked rhetorically to no one in particular.

This was the first time for all three Eveschatten females to gain a good look at the dragon eggs. Rose and Bella did not even know their brother had them in his possession until half an hour ago, when he presented them with the obviously filled duffel bags. Vexedly, he did not allow them to see the eggs, claiming to not want to ruin the surprise. As for Lily, Dumbledore told her of the tentative change in the titles of the dragon eggs. Knowing that her son would talk to her about the matter when he was ready, she was content to wait. Suffice to say, all three of them were suitably intrigued by the noticeable differences in the middle egg.

Letting the pause elongate for a few more moments to build up the suspense, Hadrian dramatically said, "As I just said, one of them is not like the others. And I can assure you, natural mutation was not the cause for its changes." Taking a look at his temporary audience, he asked, "Does anyone want to take a guess? Five points to the House of whomever can answer correctly!"

Exasperated by his sudden flair for the dramatic, Bella slightly smacked him up the back of his head, demonstrating that for all the changes in their sibling relationship, she was still technically his big sister, a familial position that imbued her with the prerogative to discipline her younger siblings.

Whining petulantly, Hadrian only found an unsympathetic audience in a smirking Lily and giggling Rose. Letting out a faux huff, he slyly looked at Bella, "Tsk-tsk, you should only channel your sadism during battle… or in the bedroom, Sister Mine."

As he chuckled, Bella could only let out an indignant sputter. Rose giggled even louder, while Lily mentally filed that exchange away, another piece of evidence in support of her silent inference.

Getting serious, Hadrian explained, "Yesterday, I was lightly experimenting with ways to make the fetus innately stronger by modulating the parametres of its environment, such as the housing temperature and localised magical saturation. As a result of my efforts, that egg is now bigger, more magically saturated, and thicker and stronger in shell than the other two eggs. What you see before you, therefore, is a promising demonstration of the viability of artificially-induced fetal growth."

"Taking a page from geneticists, Arie?" Rose asked knowingly. Receiving a pleased nod in return, she then inquired, worried for her Beloved Brother's safety, "Are you sure that you can ensure no negative influence will be borne as a side effect though?"

"I'm not sure whether I should be proud or worried that you finally let your inner mad scientist out to play, Hadrian." Lily muttered an interjection. "Regardless, that was a reckless thing you did." She chastised.

Hadrian was unrepentant though. "I'm not a stereotypical Gryffindor cannon fodder, you know." He huffed indignantly. "I took reasonable precautions, and I also confined my experimentation to just the one egg, on the  **low**  probability of things going awry."

" **Regardless** , you will not endeavour any more of these experiments on your own. Am I understood, mister?" Lily said, brooking no complaints.

"Well… I can't promise you perpetual compliance, mum." Hadrian hedged. Seeing his Mother's glare though, he quickly added, "Of course, I'll observe all reasonable safety measures during this task at least." Lily still did not look completely placated though, so he further cajoled, "Also, I'm sure that Bella, Rose, and I will have peace of mind if you supervise our experiments and lend us your considerable experiences and expertise in magical creature lore, arithmancy, runes, and warding."

Lily was amused, yet appreciative of her Darling Son's blatant flattery. "Hmph, it's clear that you three will continue this task no matter what. I guess it behooves me, as a dutiful mother, then, to oversee the sustained and safe existence of my children." She intoned faux pompously.

"What will we ever do without you, o Mother of Mine." Bella snarked.

"What a disrespectful daughter I have to back talk me so." Lily said dejectedly. Bouncing back from her momentary indulgence in childishness, she said seriously, "I was unyielding with you because I wanted to test your resolve to this cause, Arie. Since raising dragons is a long-term project, I had to be certain that your commitment is unwavering."

Hadrian nodded. "That's a valid point of concern, mum. To assuage any remaining doubt you may have, I have to ask first: do you understand the implications of our recent physical changes?"

"I have an inkling, yes, but nothing substantive." Lily replied, intuitively seeing the common thread between what he just said and the main topic of this discussion.

"Our changes in eye colours and hair aside, I have been finding it easier to manipulate my magic without an external conduit." Demonstrating his claim, Hadrian waved his hand about and levitated the four teacups on the coffee table, easily making them traverse in a three dimensional (3D) figure eight pattern, resolving the logistics of the intersection with a bypass. As the teacups continued their looping journeys, he explained, "I do this to make my next statement more palatable."

"You didn't sacrifice any innocent virgins to gain your increased proficiency in wandless magic, right Arie?" Bella joked.

Giving his sister a deadpan look, Hadrian solemnly said, "That would be too great of a price to pay for a minor power boost, my dear." Before any more interruption could be made, he pressed on, "As I was going to say, I had a strange dream earlier this week, one that involves knights and multi-factional warfare. The memory was a fleeting one, however the most important aspects of the dream were the appearance of a great three-headed dragon and said dragon calling me by the name of _Aegon_."

Hadrian observed their reactions. Bella was surprised to say the least. His mother was rather stoic upon hearing this news. Rose had the most visible reaction of them all though.

Gasping, Rose quickly grabbed his hand, stating more than asking, "So that's what you were dreaming about the evening before the First Task!" She wanted to reprimand her Brother for keeping such a secret bottled up, yet that would be hypocritical of her, irrespective of the different time lapses.

Before he could respond, Rose continued, "Actually, …" Everyone turned to look at her, "…I had a dream of a similar nature yesterday. I, or at least the individual I was experiencing the dream reality from, was waging siege warfare on a castle. Incredibly, I was doing so atop of a bus- or greater-sized dragon, as if such a thing was possible. Also, according to the warrior, the dragon's name is _Meraxes_."

Observing that her mother did not look particularly perturbed at these revelations, Bella acted on her curiosity, to which Lily waved away her inquiry with some nonsensical muttering. Unconvinced, yet knowing now was not the time to probe further, she resumed looking at her siblings with slight concern.

Hadrian looked at Rose with a relieved expression on his face, before addressing all three females. "Not that I thought I was becoming mental, it's nonetheless good to know that I'm not the only one having these types of dreams in the family. Regardless, since these dreams are apparently not isolated phenomena, I propose that we begin to catalogue them to be best of our memories and abilities." Again looking at Rose, he asked, "Rose, you're still determined to construct a pensive for your OWL project next Year, right?"

Rose nodded, realising what her brother was proposing.

Displaying the kind of mental wavelength synchronicity that was difficult to achieve outside of the relationships of close siblings or lovers [4l], Bella asked their mother, "Mum, would it be possible for us to borrow the family pensive? It would be easier for our purposes until we find a more permanent solution. And after hearing about these dreams from Arie and Rose, I'm almost certain that they'll be visiting my mind beginning in the near future as well." She received a thankful squeeze and beam from Hadrian and Rose respectively.

Lily readily agreed to Bella's request, not quite being able to mask a brief look of eagerness.

"Hem, hem." Hadrian sounded out deliberately, drawing everyone' attention again. "That's a good idea, Bella. For now, I need to finish explaining why I brought my dream up in the first place."

* * *

🙞🙟 **November 29, 2014, Level 7, British Ministry of Magic (M.o.M.) Headquarters (HQ), Whitehall, London, England, U.K. / Mgc. Britain**  🙝🙜

A woman of a doughy disposition, dressed in an assemble of various ghastly shades of pink, including a fuzzy cardigan, had no choice save to momentarily pause her motion as she sneezed, feeling as though some no-good, subversive brat was appropriating her trademark sound. In front of her, a portly little man groaned, feeling the loss of her able ministrations.

"Is something the matter?" The man, dressed in a pinstriped three-piece suit with lapels as wide as his unmerited ego, inquired, wishing she would hurry up and bloody resume her express service already.

"Not at all. Just some airborne dust, that's all." The woman quickly recovered.

"Yes, well, we're in a not-frequented supply closet, after all." The man chuckled. "C'mon now, dear, we haven't got all day."

"Of course." With the distraction passed, the woman was able to sustain her selective tactic of negotiation.

* * *

🙥🙤 **Scene 4c (Cont'd)**  🙦🙧

"Now, although this is only conjecture at this point, I'd wager a chain of causality being the link between my dragon-related dream, our bath by dragonfire, my increased proficiency in free-form magic, and my modest success in manipulating the growth of the dragon egg. With Rose apparently in the same situation as I am and Bella probably not far behind, it's reasonable to infer that we'll have the best chance out of any party to not only successfully hatch the dragon eggs, but upgrade many attributes of the dragons as well." Hadrian ended, finishing his arguments to keep the dragon eggs.

Lily and Rose, being the most academically-oriented individuals in the family, shared a speculative look with one another. Rose deferred to her mother's more expansive knowledge base, so the older redhead reasoned, "Well, we are in figuratively uncharted waters here. However, when you put it that way, Arie, the probability of each of these events being independent is astonishingly small."

Making up her mind on the matter, she concluded, "Alright, we will keep the dragon eggs." She cut her children off before they could celebrate further. "However, my conditions are nonnegotiable. Not to mention, you three can't let your academic performances and social activities suffer due to this increase in responsibility. To sweeten the deal, I can procure some helpful material from my department in the Ministry."

At the mention of academics, the Eveschatten triplets gave their mother identical smiles. Now Lily was definitely proud of her children, yet even her pride did not lend itself to inquire about the nature of the scheme they had surely cooked up.

* * *

🙞🙟 **November 29, 2014, The Great Hall, Hogwarts**  🙝🙜

It was dinner time, and Marietta was sullenly stabbing at her food again. The cause for her ill-content laid in a certain Eveschatten, whose hair had somehow brushed her shoulder already. Naturally, Bella was far too pleased with herself, chatting away with Cho and Padma. Sitting across from her were Rose and Hadrian, who sat with Fleur. The latter two were conversing together, talking inanely while trying to withdraw secrets from each other. Rose, whose hair had also grew to similar lengths, had her form leaning into her brother's arm and her chin resting on his shoulder, looked on at the scene amusedly. Her hand was in his hair, idly caressing the lush locks she missed running her fingers through these past few days.

Lily idly glanced at her children, making a mental list of all the research material, both self-written and from work, that she would need to bring out and procure again.

Today was an excellent one for the Eveschatten triplets, further unsullied by the lack of need for hair stimulation tonics.

* * *

© Hadrian von Eveschatten, 2019

* * *

**Footnotes**

[4a] The Eveschatten siblings have been made sure by Lily to not disengage from the Mundane World.

[4b] Well, not surprising given whose reality Rose is experiencing in that "dream". I also do not want this and future "dream" sequences to give the respective reincarnations too much contextual information, for what I plan for the triplets' future will be of diminished value if they are allowed to retain most or all of the contextual memories of their past selves.

[4c] That is right. The Weasley twins are obnoxious enough as it is with their juvenile, and sometimes seriously physically harmful, "pranks" without their eye-twitch-inducing twin-speak.

[4d] To preemptively answer the segment of the reading audience who think that the physical aspect of the triplets' relationship is progressing too fast… you might be right. However, in my defense, the story has already established that they had engaged in innocent and mild sexual exploration before Lily's intervention during their childhood. Also, as per both the ASoIaF canon and word of god (GRRM), two important reasons for Valyrians to frequently engage in inbreeding are the instinctual influence of their dragon blood and the benefits of retaining much of their dragon blood-associated magick. It is also a great trade-off, because despite their multigenerational inbreeding, the increases in negative recessive traits, due to homozygosity, have been much less than they would have otherwise been under normal conditions.

[4e] As someone who has always appreciated the utility and aesthetic appeal of a pair of snug trunks, I simply cannot let the Hadrian in my story wear a pair of baggy boxers, which is a mark against many otherwise quality HP fanfiction. As for Bella and Rose, their choices in boyshorts and thong panties reflect their emphases on utility and sensuality respectively.

[4f] Despite modern connotations, martial arts do not only refer to East Asian styles of unarmed combat. Here, martial arts maintains its original definition, which includes both unarmed and armed forms of combat. The term is literally derived from Latin for "arts of Mars", named after the Roman god of war (Well, the main god of war in the Roman pantheon anyway; Bellona is also a goddess of war.).

[4g] Chapter 1 of DHTH states that Lily is Flitwick's colleague. Some of the otherwise quality HP fanfiction that I have read have her employed as the Muggle Studies professor at Hogwarts. Yeah… that is not happening in my story. Besides the fact that Lily is largely recognised (at least within the HP fandom) as a Charms genius and thus should not be wasting her talents teaching a subject that can be taught by any Mundane not living under a rock, why give the Mgc. British populace a working knowledge of how far the Mundanes have truly come within the past few centuries? As such, in this story, Lily is one of the two Charms professors at Hogwarts. Flitwick took on a more active role as the Head of Ravenclaw, therefore he has also reduced his teaching workload. The two split the first six Years between them, alternatively handling three Years per person, and both sharing responsibility over the Seventh Year curriculum.

[4h] This is a minor detail, however the nomenclature of [Nationality Champion] in the TWT does not make sense. The "Champions" are still competing, so how can they be called such? So instead, I just call them [Nationality competitor].

[4i] Until the relationship between Bella and Fleur improves, I am afraid they will only call each other by their surnames, and that is them being civil towards each other. Rose is just as willful as Bella; however, her own interaction with Fleur left the latter with a more healthy dose of respect for her (see Chapter 2 for contexts).

Well, what do you know.

[4j] Oho, what is this? Lily had a (mysterious) lover? Hmm…

[4k] I tried to incorporate appropriate vulgar British slang for attractive females, although I am afraid I only know the ones with widespread usages, such as "fit" and "bird". If any reader know of other slang to use in this context, please let me know!

[4l] I say, why not both!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End Author's Notes
> 
> This chapter is very dialogue-heavy and explores the more consequential aftermath following the events of the First Task. Because of the importance of the second and fourth scenes in laying further groundwork for the future of the story, a lot of effort were put in to do them justice. I really tried to make the dialogue of said two scenes, as well as the interaction and increased intimacy between the siblings in the second one believable, yet I know they still need work. I encountered some writer's block in writing those two scenes, hence the almost one month period between the publishing of the last chapter and this one. The quality fanfiction that I have read all have their unique je ne sais quoi qualities to the aforementioned dimensions that hopefully I will eventually be able to incorporate into my own writing. Let me know what you think of them and how they can be improved.
> 
> As a firm believer in "show, not tell" mode of writing myself, I am not thrilled having to rely on so much third-party dialogue to convey the history of the triplets' bond in the third scene. Nevertheless, it is an efficient way to do so.
> 
> Finally, as a preemptive answer, yes, more substantial action will resume soon.


End file.
